In a direct challenge to the BJP and Union Home Minister Amit Shah over the detention and deportation of Bengali migrants, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee demanded that Shah show his parents’ birth certificates. Speaking at a Bhasha Andolan rally in Jhargram, Banerjee accused the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, recently conducted by the Election Commission, of being a hidden way to carry out the National Register of Citizens (NRC). She claimed this effort aims to systematically disenfranchise minorities, tribal people, and opposition supporters.
Banerjee questioned how people could provide birth certificates, especially for older generations who often were born at home without formal records. “They are asking for the birth certificates of people’s parents. Where will they get those from? I want to ask today. Do BJP leaders themselves have their parents’ birth certificates? Mr. Amit Shah, arrest me if I am wrong. Do you have your parents’ birth certificates? Show that first,” she stated.
She further criticized the citizenship notices sent to two West Bengal residents by the Assam government, calling them “unconstitutional and illegal.” The chief minister said these notices, given to members of the Tapashili and Rajbanshi communities, represent a “veiled attempt to implement NRC.” Banerjee warned that people are taking their own lives out of fear and vowed to fight against any efforts to take away people’s rights, asserting, “If they try to snatch away the rights of the people, they’ll have to go over our bodies.” She urged residents not to respond to the notices.
The TMC leader also addressed a comment made by BJP IT Cell chief Amit Malviya, who allegedly said there is no language called Bengali. She defended the Bengali language and its historical importance, citing figures like Rabindranath Tagore, Kazi Nazrul Islam, and Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose. She cautioned that if the persecution of Bengalis continues, she would raise the issue on global platforms. The Bengal BJP responded by condemning her comments as “unbecoming of a chief minister” and a sign of her “growing political desperation.”
