West Bengal BJP leader labels protesters ‘Bangladeshis who will be expelled in SIR’

The Leader of Opposition in the West Bengal Assembly, the BJP’s Suvendu Adhikari, ran into protesters at different locations across the South 24 Parganas district on Sunday as he attended Kali Puja.

Speaking to the media later, Mr. Adhikari said his car was attacked at several places in the district. “In South 24 Parganas district, today I faced repeated attacks from illegal Bangladeshi Muslims. The obstruction, vandalism, and chaos were orchestrated by none other than the TMC Zila Parishad member, Rekha Gazi, with the aid and support of SP Koteswara Rao,” he alleged in a post on X, sharing a purported video of one of the incidents.

Mr. Adhikari claimed that he was attacked on his way to Raidighi; the TMC has refuted the allegations, saying the locals had genuine concerns.

The protesters, who included women, held posters demanding that the Centre release funds due to West Bengal. Hundreds of protesters blocked Mr. Adhikari’s convoy and raised slogans.

SIR will exclude illegals

The BJP leader said he was not participating in any political event but was going to join Kali Puja and Diwali festivities as a Hindu. The Nandigram MLA, who has been drumming up support for a Special Intensive Revision (SIR), said that names of “Bangladeshi Muslims” who were behind the attack on his vehicle will be removed from the voter list after the SIR.

Trinamool Congress spokesperson Kunal Ghosh said his party has nothing to do with the protests.

“The problem is that the people of Bengal are angry with the BJP’s policies… People know that the funds meant for them were not provided by the BJP; the funds for housing were not given, which Mamata Banerjee provided… People are rejecting the politics of the BJP,” Mr. Ghosh said

The protests came a day after Darjeeling MP, the BJP’s Raju Bista, claimed his convoy was attacked in Darjeeling. On October 6, two BJP leaders, MP Khagen Murmu and MLA Sankar Ghosh, were attacked at Nagrakata allegedly by Trinamool Congress supporters, while they were visiting flood victims.

Mr. Adhikari’s convoy was attacked once before at Khagrabari on August 5 and the BJP leader said that there was a conspiracy to kill him. Over the years, several BJP leaders including former State party presidents Dilip Ghosh and Sukanta Majumdar have faced similar attacks allegedly by supporters of the TMC.