TMC settling Rohingyas in Bengal: State BJP chief

West Bengal BJP President Dilip Ghosh on Wednesday accused the state's ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) of illegally settling Rohingya refugees along the India-Bangladesh border in the Sundarbans area and said his party would not let that happen.

Referring to the killing of two BJP workers in North 24 Parganas district's Sandeshkhali area last week, Ghosh claimed that the main accused in that case was a local Trinamool leader, who had also helped Rohingyas to illegally migrate to those parts of Bengal.

"Around 10-12 kilometres of India-Bangladesh border in the Sundarbans area has become like Pakistan. Sheikh Sahjahan, a Trinamool block President, who led the killing of our workers in Sandeshkhali, had also played a leading role in Rohingya infiltration in that area and kept them in temporary camps," Ghosh said at a press conference at the state BJP headquarters here.

"Now, the Hindu families in that area are being threatened to leave because there is a plan to settle in more Rohingya refugees there. But the BJP will not let that happen as long as it is here," he said.

He also claimed that the police could not arrest Sahjahan as he was being protected by senior TMC leaders in the district.

Two BJP workers and one TMC activist were killed in a major clash between the two parties in Sandeshkhali last Saturday. The BJP says that two of its activists are still missing.

The Bengal BJP chief also took a dig at Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for having unveiled a bust of 19th century Bengali social reformer Iswarchandra Vidyasagar at a city college on Tuesday. The original bust of the icon was vandalised during BJP President Amit Shah's rally about a month ago.

"She instructed the Vidyasagar bust to be vandalised and then she herself reinstalled it. She walked in a procession along with the city intellectuals. It was a drama. Shame on Mamata Banerjee," Ghosh said.

The BJP claimed that while post-poll violence in the state was claiming lives every day, Banerjee was trying to divert people's attention from the issue.

Ghosh said for him as the state BJP chief, it was "unfortunate" that almost everyday a BJP worker was getting murdered in the state. He said Banerjee's attempt to run the state through "violence and intimidation" would not work for long.

--IANS

mgr/rtp/bg