PM Modi's speech showed lack of concern about the citizenship of Matua community: TMC
State Bureau, Jagran, Kolkata. Bengal's ruling Trinamool Congress on Saturday criticized Prime Minister Narendra Modi's speech at a rally in Taherpur in Nadia district and alleged that his address showed a lack of concern for the citizenship of the Matua community.
TMC state general secretary and spokesperson Kunal Ghosh accused the PM of being completely insensitive towards the concerns of the Matua community and said that due to the deletion of a large number of names from the draft voter list released under the SIR, this refugee community is facing deep uncertainties regarding their citizenship and identity.
Ghosh also claimed that the Prime Minister did not say a single word about the alleged oppression of Bengali-speaking people in BJP-ruled states.
Ghosh told reporters that Modi's speech lacked foresight and responsibility. He did not pay any attention to the concerns of the Matua community. A large number of people from the Matua community, a Dalit Hindu refugee community who fled Bangladesh decades ago due to religious persecution and settled in various districts of Bengal, are worried about their identity and citizenship due to the ongoing Special Intensive Revision of Voter List (SIR) statewide for the first time since 2002.
Names of more than 58 lakh people in the state have been removed from the recently published draft voter list under SIR, reducing the number of voters in Bengal from 7.66 crore to 7.08 crore. He claimed that a large part of the removed names belonged to the Matua community.
Ghosh also alleged that the PM remained silent on the issue of deportation of Indian citizens to Bangladesh by police forces of BJP-ruled states, who could return to their motherland India only with the intervention of the judiciary.
He was referring to Sonali Khatoon, who returned to India on December 6 on the orders of the Supreme Court after being sent back to Bangladesh in June. Ghosh also accused the central government of deliberately withholding funds from MNREGA, housing and other central schemes to Bengal.
Center accused of not paying Bengal's dues of Rs 1.97 lakh crore
At the same time, senior party leader and state Finance Minister Chandrima Bhattacharya took a dig at the Bengali pronunciation of the Prime Minister and said that as the elections approach, she starts remembering the spiritual great men of Bengal. He accused the Center of not paying the state's dues of Rs 1.97 lakh crore.
Meanwhile, Rajya Sabha member Mamata Bala Thakur said that the Matua community expected clarity on citizenship from the Prime Minister, but his old promises are still unfulfilled. TMC leaders also blamed poor crowd management for the deaths of three BJP workers who were hit by a train while on their way to the PM's rally.