BJP Used Hindu Bengalis as Vote Bank in Assam, Pushed Them Into More Trouble: Sushmita Dev

Rajya Sabha MP and TMC leader Sushmita Dev has alleged that the BJP has repeatedly used Hindu Bengalis in Assam as a vote bank without addressing their core issues. In a video message issued on Saturday (August 9), Dev said the party had “pushed them into more trouble” through policies like the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and its handling of pending Foreigners’ Tribunal (FT) cases.

Dev claimed that despite earlier assurances from the Prime Minister and the Assam Chief Minister that CAA would protect Hindu Bengalis, the law instead forces them to declare themselves as Bangladeshi to seek citizenship benefits. “Assam Chief Minister has said that he could do nothing for any of the pending FT cases against Bengalis in Assam and that they would have to go through the CAA. CAA Section 6(B) says people with pending FT cases will have to fill out a form stating they came from Bangladesh before December 2014. Only if the Government of India, post its investigation, grants them citizenship will the FT dismiss the cases,” she said.

She questioned why the state government could dismiss FT cases for Gurkha and Rajbongshi communities without central intervention, but not for Hindu Bengalis.

“It proves that the BJP, not just once but time and again BJP has used Hindu Bengalis just for their vote bank and pushed them into more trouble. Today, Hindu Bengalis are not listed as original inhabitants or indigenous people. Starting from the NRC, most left out of the NRC were Bengalis. In recent evictions conducted by the double-engine government before the elections, most affected were Bengalis”, Dev alleged.

MP Dev concluded with the question, “So I want to ask Assam’s Chief Minister, what did he do for the Bengalis?”