- 11 months ago
In the episode of India First, the focus is on Union Home Minister Amit Shah's allegations against the West Bengal government in the Lok Sabha.
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00:00Union Home Minister Amit Shah hits out at Mamata Banerjee government in Lok Sabha.
00:10Accuses the TMC carder of obstructing border fencing.
00:25TMC says centre is maligning West Bengal.
00:49The charges are extremely grave and all directly related to national security.
01:05The central government is accusing a state government of not only obstructing fencing
01:11but they're also going on to say that Trimur Congress carder prevent authorities from carrying
01:17out fences where land is available.
01:20Trimur carder are being accused of chanting religious slogans and hooliganism and that
01:25illegal Rohingyas and Bangladeshi nationals are getting Aadhaar cards made, national identity
01:30cards and voter cards made in Bengal in 24 parganas.
01:35But what action has the centre taken?
01:37These clearly cannot remain just political attacks.
01:40We debate that.
01:41I'm Gaurav Sawant as always, let's get started.
01:45Of the approximately 4,096 kilometre long India-Bangladesh border that runs through
01:50five states in India, approximately 3,200 odd kilometres have been fenced.
01:57The total unfenced area so far is about 865 kilometres of which 450 kilometres of this
02:04unfenced border is being blamed on the West Bengal government.
02:09Union Home Minister Amit Shah focused on this 450 kilometres long unfenced border in Bengal
02:15accusing the Mamata Banerjee government of obstructing the completion of fencing including
02:21not providing land for the fencing and for creating border outposts for the border security
02:28force.
02:29The TMC carder have been accused of physically obstructing the fencing work by sloganeering
02:35and hooliganism.
02:36The Mamata Banerjee government has hit back, accusing the centre of maligning the West
02:40Bengal government and passing the buck for failures of the centre and the BSF.
02:47Aishwarya Paliwal with our top story.
02:49Union Home Minister Amit Shah launched a frontal attack on the Trinamool Congress accusing
03:11the Mamata Banerjee government of not cooperating with border fencing and TMC carder obstructing
03:17border fencing along the India-Bangladesh border in Bengal.
03:22Shah said despite multiple letters written to Bengal government, the state administration
03:27was not allocating land for border fencing.
03:58But there were more in store.
04:01Speaking in Lok Sabha on the Immigration and Foreigners Bill 2025, Amit Shah claimed
04:07TMC carder physically obstructed the fencing process through hooliganism and shouting religious
04:13slogans.
04:27Shah gave details of the fencing work completed so far and the pending fencing work directly
04:48blaming the Mamata Banerjee government of the delays and asked all the illegal infiltrators
04:54be it Rohingyas or Bangladeshis had Aadhaar card and voter identity cards made in 24 parganas
05:01in Bengal.
05:24He said that Assam too remained an infiltration route when the Congress was in power in the
05:47state and insisted infiltration would stop in Bengal if BJP came to power in the state.
05:54The TMC hit back at the BJP accusing the Home Minister of maligning the state.
06:09Infiltration of illegal Bangladeshi nationals and Rohingyas remains a major cause of concern
06:15for security forces but the opposition claims the Union Home Minister's harsh remarks have
06:21been made with an eye on forthcoming assembly elections in Bengal.
06:27With Aishwarya Paliwal, Bureau Report, India Today.
06:35So the Home Minister on the floor of the house said a DO letter or a Demi Official letter
06:40was written and then multiple reminders were sent.
06:44The Union Home Secretary met the Chief Secretary repeatedly.
06:47Let's try and get to the bottom of this very sensitive national security issue.
06:51Joining me on this India Today special broadcast is Yashodardhan Azad who is a former top cop
06:57was also Special Director of the Intelligence Bureau, R P Singh is the National Spokesperson
07:01of the BJP, Tauseef Ahmed Khan is an advocate and a political analyst will give us the TMC
07:06perspective and Tauseef Khan it's a very grave charge leveled by the Union Home Minister.
07:12Government not allocating land either for fencing or for construction of border outposts
07:17if true why?
07:19Why is land not being allocated sir?
07:22Gaurav these are only false statements that Home Minister is making with an ulterior motive
07:30to politicise these things.
07:32A matter of national security.
07:35If Mr. Amit Shah who is the boss of the border, who is in charge of the border, he in his
07:43own failure, according to his own statement, there are infiltration happening.
07:49So that is his failure.
07:51Why he could not stop the infiltration.
07:53According to his statement, Aadhaar card is being issued, who issues Aadhaar card, state
07:58government issues Aadhaar card or central government issues Aadhaar card.
08:01These are baseless allegations Home Minister is making as a BJP former president, he thinks
08:10that he is still the BJP president and he only eyes in the upcoming election.
08:17And in fact, he could not stop referring to the elections.
08:22Can we join the national security issue with elections?
08:26He himself is saying that we will, that he will, BJP will come to power in the coming
08:32election.
08:33Let me bring RP Singh into this conversation.
08:38It's a political matter for him, you say, because the TMC, RP Singh is accusing the
08:42centre, one, of trying to malign Bengal, two, you heard what TMC says that the Home Minister
08:51is trying to pass the buck for his failure.
08:54It's the BSF at the border, BSF failed to check infiltration, whether it's Aadhaar or
09:00voter I-card, UAIDAI or Election Commission of India, do they report to Mamata Banerjee
09:07or to the central government?
09:08So why is Mamata Banerjee being blamed for centre's failure is the TMC point of view,
09:14sir.
09:15The basics of the question, the complete issue is that the land which has to be given to
09:22the BSF for building up the infrastructure or building up the wiring there or building
09:27up the blockades there around the border, that's the basic question.
09:36The fencing has to be done.
09:37The basic question of the fencing work which has to be done, who has to allocate the land?
09:41The land is a state subject.
09:43And then 450 kilometers land, the HM is on record in the parliament and none of them
09:48could challenge him that he had sent some ten DO reminders to the chief minister there.
09:55And then plus there are seven meetings with the chief secretary and the home secretary
10:01for allocating of the land.
10:04Why are they not allowing that to happen?
10:07And let me remind you, which state opposed the BSF patrolling till 50 kilometers to safeguard
10:17the interests of the country?
10:18Only West Bengal.
10:19From 15 to 15 when it was done, it was only West Bengal which opposed it.
10:23They said, no, no, no, we won't allow BSF to come to 50 kilometers to avoid any sort
10:28of infiltration or to catch any infiltrators or to even catch smugglers for that reason.
10:35That's what West Bengal government did, Mamata Banerjee did that time.
10:39But coming to the, give me another second, coming to the core issue, why are they doing
10:44so?
10:45Because they are looking for vote bank.
10:46Now, there's no infiltration from Assam today.
10:48It's totally blocked.
10:49Nothing is happening from Assam.
10:50But the complete infiltration is happening only from that 450 kilometers.
10:55And yes, we are making it a political issue.
10:57We are not shying away from saying that we are making it a political issue because we
11:01are not very sure whether the West Bengal government, the present set of the government
11:06will allow that piece of land to BSF to build up fencing or to build up other means ofā¦
11:10Let me bring in Yashogardhan Azad for a non-political perspective, for a national security perspective.
11:17Sir, beyond politics, tell us the ground realities.
11:21You wore the uniform.
11:23You were special director of the Intelligence Bureau.
11:26If the Bengal government does not allocate land as the Home Minister puts it, despite
11:31writing a DO letter, 10 reminders, 7 meetings between the Union Home Secretary and the State
11:36Chief Secretary, does that hamper border patrolling and prevention of infiltration
11:42across this 450-kilometer stretch of land?
11:45Gaurav, on a very serious national security issue like this, I wish both the state and
11:53the center collaborated.
11:55But then, you know, it always becomes a political issue.
11:59Let me tell you that this entire border, which is a very, very long border with Bangladesh
12:05about 2,200 kilometers or something, 78% has already been fenced.
12:13And the remaining percent, which we were talking about, is around 450 kilometers, out of which
12:19again 112 kilometers is absolutely a very, very difficult terrain, very, very difficult
12:26terrain.
12:27I've been to that side.
12:28I've been to Sundarbans.
12:29I've seen exactly how the villages are virtually facing each other across riverbeds.
12:35Now, the issue is, in that particular where the land has to be acquired, you know, West
12:43Bengal has a different way of compensating for these land acquisitions.
12:48It's not that you acquire land straightaway for public purpose.
12:52And that is why there are delays, you know, because I don't see any particular interest
12:57what the West Bengal will get out of, you know, getting illegal migrants.
13:01And, you know, after all, there are no figures which have been put out as to from this vulnerable
13:07patch how many of the illegal immigrants have come and which will make any sizable increase
13:14in the votes.
13:15So the question is, yes, I agree that the West Bengal government should definitely cooperate
13:22and try to have the remaining part.
13:25It's a 450 minus 112.
13:28So it will be around 250 or whatever.
13:31Sir the Home Minister put it separately.
13:33He said 450 plus 112 separately is what he said.
13:37The riverine belt is 112 kilometres, 450 is where land is to be acquired.
13:43But be that as it may, it's not just vote bank.
13:46It's also these Rohingyas shifting to sensitive locations like military stations near Jammu
13:51and Sanjuwan where they stand accused of having been involved or providing bases for
13:57a terror attack that was carried out at a military station, which even I've covered
14:00on Ground Zero and we've lost soldiers and their families.
14:04So it's a grave national security issue on which unfortunately we are having politics
14:08in our country.
14:09And Tausif Khan, the Home Minister, not only said Mamata Banerjee government is not allocating
14:14land, the other allegation is even more serious where he said party cadre chant religious
14:21slogans.
14:22So whatever religious slogans are chanted, hooliganism is created and where a fence
14:27can be created, even there they tried to prevent the erection of fences.
14:32The implication is that ruling party cadre is not letting the fencing happen.
14:36Sir, would this not adversely impact national security?
14:40False allegation got a complete white lie by the Home Minister.
14:45Today, during the zero hour, it was the Tirunamal MP Sukhendu Shekhar Roy who raised this question.
14:52It was Tirunamal MP Sukhendu Shekhar Roy during the zero hour, he asked that the government
14:58should complete the fencing work.
15:01According to Tirunamal MP, there is about 865 km of border which is yet to be fenced.
15:09That is according to TMC MP.
15:11And one of the major challenges as we have all seen, the objection was raised by the
15:16border guard of Bangladesh.
15:17We have seen what happened in Sukhdepur in Malda, there was a scuffle and with the help
15:23of the local people and PSF, the major incident was spotted.
15:28So therefore, it is the government of India who has to own their responsibility, sit with
15:34the counterpart, with the Bangladeshi counterpart and solve these issues.
15:38It does not help them.
15:40The BJP problem with the BJP is that they look at everything with the spectacle of election.
15:46They are eyeing on election and therefore making this a political issue.
15:49This is not a political issue.
15:51It is the Tirunamal MP Sukhendu Shekhar Roy who raised this question that BJP government
15:55must build these fences and wall footing.
15:56Respond RPS Singh, what has the BJP government at the centre done?
16:00Now if Bengal is not cooperating, does the centre have absolutely no options on this?
16:06That's point one.
16:07Point two, Aadhaar and voter I-card verification process.
16:12Is the centre not involved?
16:14Is the centre not supposed to ensure only the right people get voter I-card and Aadhaar
16:19with a fake Aadhaar?
16:20How are they roaming around across the country from Kerala to Kashmir?
16:24Gaurav, you know, when Aadhaar is made, the local political influence is being used.
16:30The elected MLAs and the elected corporators and the other leaders at the local level,
16:34they use their influence and they put pressure on the authorities and concerned people who
16:39make Aadhaar.
16:40And also they help the people to gather some sort of evidence of their residence or evidence
16:45of their being citizen here.
16:47I mean, that's how it's been done.
16:48It was already proven in Delhi.
16:50Two MLA's assistants and their staff were caught helping those Rohingyas to get the
16:57Aadhaar made and the voter I-card made.
17:00So, is there ground reality in the fact that the local leaders do help to get the Aadhaar?
17:07Sir, catch hold of two local leaders in case they're doing something wrong, in case there
17:12is an illegality, proceed legally against them, put them behind bars if there is a national
17:17security implication.
17:18Why is it just a political point between TMC and BJP?
17:22Because Mr. Yashwardhan Azad, on a crucial national security issue, one, you're absolutely
17:27right, one expects the center and the state to be on the same page.
17:30But if they are not, on a national security issue, the center must crack the whip and
17:36put the illegals in jail, sir.
17:38Is that a way forward?
17:40What is the legal position on this?
17:42Absolutely.
17:43I totally agree with you, Gaurav.
17:44The question is that the center should also put out the kind of infiltration which is
17:51going on and give the figures completely.
17:54It's extremely important now that this should stop, whether it's the Rangia's infiltration
18:02or it's the Bangladesh's, and that's why it's important.
18:06But another point, I think the West Bengal government needs to cooperate because it is
18:10in their interest also that this border should be completely fenced and we don't allow illegal
18:17immigration because the kind of relationship also we have at this time, it is extremely
18:23important that both of them cooperate.
18:25It's not a question of meeting the chief secretary, it's a question of meeting of
18:28political minds, which is important.
18:31And it's unfortunate that on a national security issue, they are not able to collaborate on
18:36this.
18:37I will let that be the last word on this part of the show to all my guests.
18:40Many thanks for joining me.
18:42Let me now get you an India Today special investigation, how infiltration, human trafficking
18:47and even drugs from Bangladesh is big business.
18:51There are touts who boast about their infiltration skills to agents who profiteer from this human
18:58trafficking and smuggling and illegal migration.
19:00And India Today special investigation team did a mega sting operation in December last
19:06at the India-Bangladesh border in West Bengal.
19:09It's nothing short of chilling.
19:11Shreya Chatterjee brings you this report.
19:21Shreya Chatterjee
19:34Our investigation begins in Dinhata Block 1,
19:42a region along the river Dhorola in West Bengal.
19:52To reach this village that has no border fencing,
19:59we had to hand over our Aadhaar cards and security deposits.
20:07On this boat ride, we met a man who calls himself a tout,
20:11someone who has turned infiltration into a livelihood.
20:51His tone is one of defiance.
21:06No fear of the law, no fear of the BSF.
21:09When asked how he manages this, he laughs.
21:14Villagers say the lack of enforcement allows workers from Bangladesh to enter India daily.
21:24They come to work in the fields, earn their wage in Takas and leave by nightfall.
21:44The touts aren't alone in this enterprise.
22:02Agents play a critical role after the infiltrators make it across.
22:07These agents arrange documents and jobs for the infiltrators,
22:11often in Indian cities far away from the border areas.
22:18One agent we spoke to boasted about his achievements.
22:40The same routes and the same networks are used for cattle, drugs, gold and even human trafficking.
23:05According to BSF sources, in Dinhata alone,
23:08these illegal activities generate 80 lakh rupees per day.
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