The plight of migrant worker Gangadhar Pramanik, 33, who returned home to Bankura’s Radhanagar village on Wednesday after three years at a detention camp in Assam, took a political turn on Saturday with Trinamul holding a protest rally at his native place to highlight how a genuine citizen was profiled as a foreigner and thrown into a “hellhole” in a BJP-ruled state.
Trinamul workers also burnt effigies of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union home minister Amit Shah and shouted slogans on the dangers of having the BJP in power.
Trinamul’s move came a day after state government officials confirmed the Indian citizenship of Gangadhar after verifying documents such as his land and school records.
Trinamul leaders said the purpose of the protest was to alert the people of Radhanagar about the dangers of the several citizenship matrixes that the duo of Modi and Shah wanted to thrust on the nation.
The protest is politically significant as the BJP in Bankura, which is a part of Jungle Mahal, won eight of 12 Assembly seats this year.
However, BJP’s Bishnupur MLA Tanmoy Ghosh switched over to the Trinamul recently and was present at the Radhanagar protest.
“Gangadhar is an Indian citizen and a son of Bankura. The BJP-led Assam government did not bother to check Gangadhar’s antecedents before dumping him into a detention centre, where he was mentally and physically tortured. The story of this young villager tells how persons from other states are treated in BJP-ruled states,” said Alok Mukherjee, Trinamul president of Bankura organisational district.
Mukherjee said the party planned to take the protests to other areas of the district to show how the BJP was dangerous for the country.
“The incident justifies our chief minister’s protest against implementing the National Register of Citizens (NRC),” Mukherjee added.
Chief minister Mamata Banerjee has been vocal against the NRC since its implementation in Assam. She has repeatedly assured the people of Bengal that she would not let it roll out in Bengal.
When the NRC was being implemented in Assam, she sent a team of MPs in August 2018 to the neighbouring state but Trinamul leaders were not allowed to step outside Silchar airport. During her visit to Assam’s Dhubri while campaigning for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, Mamata dubbed the NRC as a conspiracy by the BJP-ruled Centre.
Trinamul sources said they would raise their pitch on Gangadhar’s plight as the NRC issue had paid the party rich dividends in Assembly polls.
BJP president of Bishnupur organisational district (in Bankura) Sujit Agasty said Trinamul leaders were “playing dirty politics” with Gangadhar’s plight. “It is true he had been detained in Assam but it was the outcome of a decision taken by the Foreigners Tribunal in that state. Assam BJP had no role in it. We are happy he is back home but condemn the dirty politics that Trinamul is indulging in,” Agasty said.
A chance intervention by the Citizens for Justice and Peace (CJP) helped Gangadhar walk out on bail on September 14.
