‘Hindus will suffer more’: BJP’s ‘Bangladeshi’ politics could alienate its refugee vote in Bengal

“I have decided that I will now speak in Bangla even more frequently,” Mamata Banerjee declared at a Trinamool Congress protest in Kolkata on Wednesday. “I dare you to put me in a detention centre before arresting any other Bengali speakers.”

The three-term chief minister’s words were directed at the Bharatiya Janata Party, her principal political opponent in West Bengal. Banerjee rattled off a list of incidents from Maharashtra, Delhi and Chhattisgarh to claim that nearly 1,000 Bengalis were detained in BJP-ruled states under allegations that they were Bangladeshi citizens. She also highlighted BJP demands for a Bihar-style special intensive revision to remove so-called Bangladeshi voters from Bengal’s electoral rolls.

Banerjee’s statements made it clear that the Trinamool will counter the BJP’s citizenship politics by mounting a charged campaign to try and portray the BJP as “anti-Bengali”.

Notably, Trinamool Congress has focussed its messaging on Hindu refugee groups residing in West Bengal, such as Matuas and Rajbanshis, who have, of late, strongly supported the BJP. On Thursday, it flagged the arrest of five Matuas in Pune, Maharashtra. Earlier, on July 8, Banerjee had herself taken up the case of a Rajbanshi man, who was allegedly being harassed by Assam officials. Both Maharashtra and Assam are currently governed by the BJP.

Analysts and politicians...

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