- 15 hours ago
On this Special Report, the focus is on the heated debate over illegal infiltration in West Bengal. Union Home Minister Amit Shah accuses the Mamata Banerjee government of stalling border fencing work along the 112-km difficult terrain. Countering the narrative, Bangla Pokho General Secretary Garga Chatterjee argues that the percentage of Bengali-speaking people has declined, dismissing the 'Bangladeshi bogey'. Political Analyst Rishi Bagri highlights the arrest of Bangladeshi actress Shanta Paul with fake Indian documents as proof of a demographic shift. The panel, including BJP’s R P Singh and Senior Journalist Shikha Mukherjee, discusses the implications of the SIR process and the 2026 elections.
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00:00Joining me on this debate on the battle for Bengal are Garga Chatterjee, General Secretary of Bangla Pukho.
00:06R.P. Singh is National Spokesperson of the BJP.
00:09Shikha Mukherjee is a Senior Journalist and Analyst.
00:12Rishi Bagri joins us as a Political Analyst on this broadcast.
00:15We will continue this conversation, but before that,
00:18before that, quickly listen in to Union Home Minister Amit Shah's statement in Parliament
00:22on the issue of fencing the issues that the Border Security Force
00:27and the Ministry of Home Affairs were facing in Bengal.
00:57Now I want to tell you why it is.
01:01This is 450 km for me, I have written 10 reminders.
01:07Reminder करें हैं, Bengal सरकार भूमी नहीं देती हैं.
01:11मानेवर, ये 450 km के लिए, घुरू सचीव, बंगाल के मुख्य सचीव के साथ 7 मिटिंग करें,
01:25ये भूमी नहीं देते हैं.
01:27मानेवर, जहां फेंसिंग लगाने जाते हैं,
01:30सत्तादारी पार्टी का कैडर आकर हुर्दन करता है.
01:34दार्मिक नार्य लगाता हैं, और मानेवर, मैं कहना चाहता हूँ,
01:40कि ये 450 km फेंसिंग रुकी है, तो केवल और केवल,
01:46बंगाल सरकार की दया की धुरूष्टी घुस पेटियों के पर जो है, इसके कारणा हैं.
01:52ये सवाल हमें करते हैं, अभी भी किया,
01:55कि रोंगया दिल्ली तक आगया, आपके नाग के निचे आ है, घूश कर आते हैं, इनको अधारकार दादा कौन देता है,
02:04नागरिक तहां के बने है, तहां के बने है, जीतने बंगलादेशे पकड़े गए,
02:1124 पर गणा जिले का अधारकाण और नागरिक तहां मानिवर.
02:17Shikha Mukherjee, your reading of the Home Minister's charge in Parliament on the floor of the House,
02:23and now in Bengal, how major an issue is Ghuspaitia or illegal infiltrators from Bangladesh an issue in Bengal?
02:33Well, it's because of two reasons. One is that Ghuspaitia or the politics of infiltration and infiltrators,
02:45their religious identity more than anything else, because, you know, Mr. Avichwa has made it very clear
02:50that Ghuspaitia equals the demographic change, and the demographic change that he's referring to
02:57is the phase at which the Muslim population has risen in West Bengal in certain parts,
03:06vis-a-vis the stability of the Hindu population and the proportions of one of the Hindus to the Muslims in West Bengal.
03:18That is the basic Ghuspaitia argument. So if you look at the Ghuspaitia argument, this has been going on for a long while,
03:25and there have been various claims about the percentage of Muslim population in West Bengal.
03:32And this gets linked to the other part of the political narrative, which is the idea of a vote bank,
03:41a Muslim vote bank, and the increase of Muslim vote bank by giving paid documents to
03:50and legalizing the infiltrators, mostly Muslims. Now, all of this has been a very long,
03:58this has had years of building up as a narrative for a political campaign. It has been ongoing.
04:062021, the same thing happened. 2024, it was the same thing. And in 2016, also, it was the same thing.
04:12However, what makes this more urgent in this particular time, in this particular 2026 election is very simple.
04:22It's the SIR. And the SIR process is all about identifying the ineligible voter, the illegal migrant,
04:32and removing them from the polls. Now, that raises the fundamental question, which Mr. Amit Shah in today's meeting,
04:42press conference addressed, which is that Ghuspaitia equals demographic change, equals Muslim infiltration.
04:48Now, is that exactly what the SIR is going to reveal? I doubt it.
04:53Because the SIR is not going to look at the religious identity of people, but the papers that they have.
05:02And that is going to pose a problem. However, what Mr. Shah's and the BJP's campaign up to this point,
05:10Mr. Shah certainly took it up several notches, is that this is the one issue on which the Hindu majority
05:19in West Bengal is expected to respond and react and give the BJP the two-thirds majority that he's
05:30talking about. And how is this? And let me just explain a little bit more, just one more point,
05:37which is that if you look at the Hindu majority, then the Hindu majority comprises both those people
05:45who have been in West Bengal before partition and those who came in after partition.
05:51Yes.
05:51The impact is supposed to be on both. The scare is about the demographic change.
06:00Now, the BJP is constantly harping on this issue. The SIR is going to impact the Hindus as much as anybody else
06:09amongst those who came in across the water. And then Mr. Shah has made a further point.
06:14One small point, which is that nobody who came on grounds of religious persecution or as refugees
06:22will be struck off the list. Now, how that is going to work out in terms of the existing
06:30framework of the SIR process remains to be seen.
06:35And therefore, which is where the CAA kicks in, you know, Citizenship Amendment Act that the persecuted
06:43Hindu, Sikh, Jain and Christian minorities living in Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Pakistan,
06:50they get citizenship in India. Will that date, you know, coincide and help with the Hindus?
06:57That remains to be seen. But R.P. Singh, TMC on the issue of ghuspaitiyas or infiltrators,
07:03Mamata Banerjee is not taking it lying down. She's hit right back at the BJP saying where did
07:08infiltrators come from in Pahlgaam attack or for Delhi blasts. So the BJP is being accused
07:13of using ghuspaitiyas only as an issue to polarize in Bengal, sir.
07:20Sir, give me a moment. I'm unable to hear you. We will try and reestablish our link with you. But let me bring in Rishi Bagri to respond to this.
07:36Rishi, is this an issue in these elections, the issue of ghuspaitiyas and the changing demographic profile? Because the TMC says BJP only raises the issue of ghuspaitiya.
07:57It's a self-goal. It's the job of the BSF or the MHA to stop infiltration. They failed and they're blaming the Bengal government, sir.
08:10Gaurav, if you see the data, I mean, just go and check the data of the Kolkata itself. In from 2002 SIR to 2025 SIR, the rise of the total voter count is just 4%.
08:26Whereas the voter count rise in Morshidabad, Malda and many minority dominated districts is more than 60-70%. Now you can imagine that this is not normal.
08:38I mean, a normal, you know, what do you call normal population doesn't like this. This is the handiwork of the complete infiltration which is happening here.
08:48Now, I give you some examples. Like if you remember, there was recently, there was a, there's a female, there was a Bangladeshi actress, Shanta Paul, who got caught.
08:59Actually, she was a Bangladeshi. She got caught with two Aadhaar cards, one voter cards and one Russian card. All were issued from West Bengal.
09:07The Aadhaar card and the Russian card were issued by the West Bengal government, basically, if you say, if you can say. So there are many such rackets which are getting busted.
09:17These are the rackets which takes money and issue ID cards and other things which help them to get the passport and even the voter cards.
09:26So basically, all this, most of these people who are get caught with the, all these fraudulent cards are coming from the Aadhaar Malda, Morshidabad, 24th Parganazan.
09:36It cannot be a coincidence in that way. So that is one thing which is there. So it's very important that the, secondly, I mean, you also need to understand that a very big, large chunk of our border in Bangladesh,
09:51between the West Bengal and Bangladesh is unfenced. Most of it are, like, the land has not been given to the BSF to set up the boundary wall.
10:00Now, I think the central government is repeatedly asking the land, but I think Mamata Banerjee is reluctant to give the land.
10:08So you can imagine. And then they are a very more interesting thing.
10:11They are basically, you can see, there is a cult, Damad and Jamais of Bangladeshi. Bangladeshi, Jamais, they are being basically settled in places like Jamai Pada.
10:24There is a, there is a places called Jamai Pada, Damad Pada in West Bengal. Officially, unka naam hai Jamai Pada.
10:31And those are in, like, in Kulpi, in 24th Parganaz, where all these Bangladeshi people come.
10:37They marry the local Muslim woman and they settle there as a voter. They settle there as a, as a person. They get all, they basically,
10:44You know, I'll get Shikha Mukherjee to respond to that, but if I have an audio link back.
10:48Okay. If R.P. Singh is back, R.P. Singh, respond. Is this just a political issue during elections?
10:56Because Mamata Banerjee and you heard her, where she very clearly says, where did infiltrators come from in Pahalgaam?
11:03Did, did you do Pahalgaam? What about the terrorists who carried out Delhi Plus?
11:07The BJP is only using Guzpatia as an issue to polarize, as, you know, Mr. Shikha Mukherjee also points out.
11:15Go on, sir. Respond.
11:16What about your channel and other various channels just recently covered how Bangladesh is shifting Kalkata and other cities and other areas were located, were located, because they knew that because of a CR, they can't say that.
11:34And then, interviewed by various channels, asked them, who, Mr. Watercard, how did you talk to Halkan, they said, record, that we, Halkan, our watercard, our main TMC was, and we said, what TMC?
11:51So, I think we'll have to spend another moment trying to re-establish that audio link with you.
12:07But Shikha Mukherjee, the Home Minister referred to multiple letters and meetings with the Bengal government and yet land was not allotted to the border security force.
12:17You know, land, the Home Minister referred to multiple meetings that were taking place, that BSF was not getting land.
12:28What is your reading of the allegation that the Mamata Banerjee government is actually facilitating infiltration of Bangladeshis, deliberately changing the demographic profile, and therefore land is not being provided?
12:40I want you to just go through this Ministry of Home Affairs press release.
12:44This is an August 2025 press release that talks about roughly 456 kilometers of land that was identified for border fencing, 148 odd kilometers that was still pending because land acquisition was not taking place.
12:58Work on another 220 kilometers was not happening.
13:01Bengal government had either stalled the payment or had not given cabinet approval.
13:06How do you read this, madam?
13:07Well, I think it is a problem, but there are land acquisition issues in West Bengal, and that has to be dealt with.
13:16If the Mamata Banerjee government is going slow on it, then that's a problem.
13:20Then the accusation stands.
13:22But to kind of infer from that, that of the 2,216 kilometers of the border, there is less than one-fourth of that land, approximately, has not been handed over.
13:42So, three-fourths of the land has been covered, and of that, 77 kilometers has just been handed over in August or something, and then the rest of it has to be, it remains to be handed over because there are issues.
13:54112, Mr. Amit Shah himself has come up with these figures.
13:58I think 378 kilometers land acquisition is yet to be initiated.
14:03148 odd kilometers state government work is happening.
14:06Has not been done as yet.
14:07148 kilometers, it's in various stages of acquisition, according to that press release.
14:12That's right.
14:12That's right.
14:13So, this is a process.
14:15It has been slow.
14:16But given West Bengal's issues with land acquisition, I am almost certain that even if you wanted to fast-track it, it would still be a far slower process than it would be in other parts of the country.
14:30And I am very clear about this because West Bengal's land acquisition problems are a humongous political risk for everybody.
14:39Okay.
14:40So, you don't think that there is a deliberate ghost law in this?
14:43Let me also bring in Garga Chatterjee into this conversation.
14:47Garga, welcome.
14:47You know, the home minister accused the chief minister and the Bengal government of deliberately delaying land being provided to the border security force for fencing of that area.
15:01How do you read that, sir?
15:04Let me give you certain facts.
15:06Okay.
15:07Am I audible correctly?
15:09Stand five, sir.
15:10Go on.
15:10Yeah.
15:12Let me give you certain facts which should inform the people of India about what is what.
15:18Number one, this whole bogey of Bangladeshi immigrants coming in through the poorest West Bengal-Bangladesh border.
15:26Let me give you a figure.
15:27From 1971 to 81 to 1991 to 2001 to 2011, the last census, the percentage of Bengali-speaking people in India has actually gone down.
15:40Number one, number one, okay?
15:41Number two, in Assam, 23% of the land border with Bangladesh remains unfenced.
15:51I really request Mr. Amit Shah to tell us what are the factors which are stopping a BJP state government and a BJP home ministry government, a home ministry, to do 23% fencing in Assam, okay?
16:08Number three, in 2015, let alone guarding the Bangladesh border, 10,000 acres of West Bengal land of Kuj Bihar was written off to the Bangladesh government, okay?
16:27Made part of Bangladesh by this present government of India.
16:30In 2024, September, 140 acres of Nodhia district was given away to Bangladesh after Amit Shah nodded it to BSF and their Bangladesh border guard people.
16:45And in the recent SIR in West Bengal, the draft list has been published.
16:52We have seen about 19, 20 lakh people who could not be traced, okay, or who have said they are elsewhere.
17:00Among them, about 70% plus are Hindi-speaking people, Urdu-speaking people, and Marwaris who live in the urban and industrial areas of West Bengal.
17:13What Bangladesh bogey are we talking about?
17:16R.P. Singh respond, R.P. Singh respond, what Bangladeshi bogey or infiltrators bogey is the BJP talking about?
17:25Because statistics and numbers don't seem to back the claim, the TMC counters.
17:31As I was telling you, and I showed you pictures also, of the Bangladeshis fleeing and vacating their mohollas after mohollas, the houses after houses, because they knew that they were scared of Messiah.
17:55They knew they would be caught.
17:56And when interviewed by various channels, including your channel, ask them, who made your Adhaar card?
18:02They said it was the TMC worker.
18:04Who made your voter card?
18:05It was a TMC worker.
18:07Who do you vote for?
18:08We vote for TMC.
18:10I mean, there are areas after areas which are empty today.
18:13I mean, please, if you want, I'll send you the flipping of your channel itself.
18:18But the fact is that Mamta Banerjee is harping on these migrants.
18:23And that's why she has been trying to protect them.
18:27And when a gentleman says that, okay, the people come from the border, okay, but who gives them the shelter here?
18:33Who ensures that they get their voter eye card made?
18:39So there's a complete racket which is happening.
18:41Okay, you accuse a racket being there on ground.
18:44And Gargah, before I bring in Rishi into this conversation once again, Gargah Chatterjee, how do you see this, you know, Mamta Banerjee comparing the BJP leadership to Duryodhan and Dushasan?
18:56There are some analysts who argue this actually shows her desperation on the issue of Ghospatiyas.
19:01They are not countering, you know, she's not countering the BJP on facts that infiltrators are changing the demographic profile of the region.
19:09And that is why, you know, she's moving, as the BJP says, towards the Duryodhan-Dushasan comparison, sir.
19:16How would you explain that?
19:20See, Duryodhan and Dushasan and the Kauravs and the Pandavs were from the same Kuru family, okay?
19:30We are all part of the family of India.
19:34We are all Indians.
19:35So, when certain political forces in India, the BJP in this case, attacks in its states, Bengalis of India, citizens of Bengal, in Malda, Murshidabad, in Odisha, in Rajasthan, in Odisha, in Rajasthan, in Odisha.
19:59Sir, the moment he completes, I'll get you to respond.
20:01No, no, no, no.
20:02I'll get you to respond.
20:03R.P. Singh and Gargachandaji only.
20:07Okay.
20:07This cannot happen.
20:08Gargachandaji, complete your point.
20:10Sir, I'm coming to you.
20:11Sir, R.P. Singh, I'm coming to you.
20:12Gargachandaji, please complete your point, sir.
20:13For a foreign citizen, one has to be slapped by the Passport Act, the Citizenship Act, okay?
20:20And that's the constitution of India.
20:23While we have BJP Bajarangdal vigilantes attacking Bengalis in BJP's rule states all over India,
20:30is this some kind of ethnic cleansing of Bengalis going on in India in the name of…
20:34Sir, you are saying it's happening to Bengalis, you are saying it's happening to Bengalis,
20:38R.P. Singh, respond.
20:39R.P. Singh, respond.
20:41I'll give a challenge to gentlemen.
20:44Let him give an instance where such thing has happened.
20:47He is doing well.
20:49He wants to bring hatred.
20:51He wants to build hatred in the society, which is all false and fabricated.
20:55And as for Duryodhan and Dushashan, Mr. Jyoti Priyamalik is Duryodhan.
21:00Mr. Anuprat Mandal is Dushashan.
21:02Mr. Jeevan Krishan Shah is the Dushashan.
21:05All these people who are involved in corruption are Dushashan and Duryodhan.
21:08Whether it's Manik Bhattacharya, Chandrakhan Sina, Preish Pal, Kuntal Ghosh, Kunal Ghosh.
21:14I mean, all these are people who are Duryodhan and Dushashan Bharti Bajmangal.
21:19Gargah Chaharji wants to quickly respond before I bring in Shikha Mukherjee and Amit and Rishin
21:24to this conversation once again on what Amit Shah said.
21:27But quickly, Gargah, yes, please.
21:28I have personally met Buddhadav Barik and his 20 compatriots from Postim Madhinipur district
21:38who went to Gujarat.
21:41They were picked up by Gujarat police.
21:43Their Gujarat police boot marks are on their body.
21:47They were branded as Bangladeshis.
21:49Babai Shardar, who did a RSS course of level 2 from Vishnipur Assembly Constituency of South
21:5624th Pargona, he was picked up in Maharashtro.
21:59Okay?
22:00Shujay Das of Murchidabad in Urissa was beaten black and blue, was almost killed with a stone.
22:06I have visited all of these people.
22:08These are all over the media.
22:09Anyway, if action needs to be taken, the BJP is in the line of fire for not taking hard action
22:15against vigilante groups.
22:17That's the challenge.
22:18In case there are illegal Bangladeshis, legal action by the police and not by vigilante groups.
22:24That's the criticism coming your way, sir.
22:27R.P. Singh.
22:27Wait 30 seconds.
22:28He just now mentioned, he just now mentioned with the police.
22:31Police are such a vigilante group.
22:33When police is taking action, they are saying it's a vigilante group.
22:36They are trying to brand it as a bhangla, as a bhangla, but the fact is, let's talk about
22:41Hargobandas and Chandan Das.
22:42Why were they killed in Murchidabad?
22:45What, what made them kill in, why were they killed in Murchidabad?
22:48What was the instance?
22:49Do you remember that?
22:50So it is, as per their suitability, poor people from backward classes were killed because
22:56they are Hindus.
22:58Okay, I want to quickly bring in Shikha Mukherjee.
23:01Okay, Amit Shah, Shikha Mukherjee accused Mamata Banerjee in TMC of creating this atmosphere
23:08of fear, which was worse than in the times of a communist regime.
23:12Now, he went on record to say more than 300 BJP workers have been killed.
23:15More than 3,000 BJP workers have still not been able to return home.
23:20They're being pressured that they'll only be allowed to return home if they carry a TMC flag.
23:24How bad is this situation on ground in your appreciation, madam?
23:28Guru, I will, before I get to the point that you've just asked me, I will raise two or
23:35three questions.
23:36One is that there is a person called Shonali Ghatu who was deported on suspicion that she
23:43was a Bangladeshi.
23:45The courts in Bangladesh and the Supreme Court of India have both said that she had to come
23:50and she was brought back.
23:52The fact is that this whole business of identifying people as Bangladeshi has now reached dangerous
24:03proportions with the death of Angel Chakma.
24:07Why?
24:08Because he was in Uttarakhand.
24:11Why was he attacked?
24:12Why was he killed?
24:13No, but Angel Chakma is a completely different issue, ma'am.
24:16And the Uttarakhand police have a different story.
24:17But that, you know, I want to stay on the issue of Bengal for the moment.
24:21Angel Chakma is a different story, ma'am.
24:22We are looking at Bengal, but we are also looking at the identity politics that is underway.
24:29And that is the dangerous part of it for national, for the nation.
24:35Oh, absolutely.
24:35Anybody targeting anybody, you know, the strong arm of the law has to come down very heavily.
24:40But Angel Chakma has, in my view, has nothing to do with what's happening in Bengal or the
24:45issue of the Ghuz Paitia.
24:46But Rishi Bagri, TMC claims BJP leaders visit the state as tourists.
24:51They lack grassroots support.
24:53That is why they are blaming politics of fear and the TMC.
24:57How do you read Amit Shah's statement on 3,000 BJP workers being unable to return home, sir?
25:03No, Gaurav, I don't think so.
25:04There is a lack of grassroots support because they already are having a 40% vote share.
25:09And secondly, I mean, these are the same activists who stayed completely, conspicuously
25:14silent on West Bengal police firing and which killed multiple Bengali students in Islampur
25:20when the Mamata government was trying to impose Urdu language instead of a Bengali language.
25:26These were the same activists who stayed silent and gulped down the group.
25:30And secondly, Angel Chakma was not killed because of some hate crime.
25:34He was killed because of some thing.
25:36And his killer was some Nepali guy and some guy from what he called Manipur.
25:41I mean, they are basically on the run.
25:43So, the government and the police have clarified this thing.
25:47So, some arrests have taken place.
25:49Some more arrests need to take place.
25:51But you are absolutely right.
25:52Any crime, you know, is very clearly unacceptable.
25:57But, you know, does this mean that identification of illegal Bangladeshis should not happen?
26:03Due process must be followed.
26:05But illegals must be dealt with.
26:08But this is an issue, of course, we will continue to debate in the days and weeks ahead.
26:12I want to thank all my guests.
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