Trinamul Congress leader and minister Bratya Basu and party MP Partha Bhowmick held a Press conference today exposing Bharatiya Janata Party’s lies and ‘ghuspaithiye’ (infiltrators).
Mr Basu said BJP’s lies on infiltration stand completely exposed. In Malda, their own booth president Ujjwal Roy has been arrested for sheltering a Bangladeshi national. Roy, resident of Booth No. 177 in Agra Harishchandrapur, under Baidyapur Gram Panchayat of Habibpur, was remanded to three days of police custody by Malda district court. “He is also accused of involvement in smuggling. If infiltration is happening, as BJP keeps shrieking, then it’s being facilitated under Amit Shah’s watch. He controls border security. He runs the Home Ministry. This mess belongs to him,” said the minister.
He said that the SIR exercise has become a death sentence for ordinary citizens. 140+ people have died due to the SIR. Elderly citizens, differently-abled persons, and patients are being harassed and forced to travel long distances for hearings. Many are denied their rightful citizenship despite having valid documents.
Reminding the people of a fire incident at a godown in Disa district of Gujarat, Mr Basu said there has been a tragic incident. The Chief Minister herself has taken responsibility for the affected families and personally handed over compensation. However, several questions are being raised. Allow me to place some facts on record. In April 2025, a similar fire incident at a godown/factory in Disa district of Gujarat claimed 21 lives. Both the Centre and the state jointly announced compensation. The Prime Minister declared Rs 2 lakh each for the families of the deceased and Rs 50,000 each for the injured from the National Relief Fund. The state government also made additional promises. However, it later emerged that nearly 50 per cent of the affected families did not receive the promised compensation, forcing them to approach the Supreme Court.
Mr Basu said what TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee had earlier raised, why SIR is not being conducted in Assam or Tripura, from where Rohingyas allegedly enter India, that concern stands further reinforced today.
On the issue of West Bengal Board of Secondary Education President, ad-hoc committee Ramanuj Ganguly writing to the District Election Officers for smooth conduct of Madhyamik examination, Mr Basu said: “The Centre and the BJP do not want students from Bengal to perform well. But TMC stands firmly with the students, do not worry.”
On Humayun Kabir, Mr Basu said religion and politics are two different things. Also, why should we talk about a person from another party? Everyone knows they are under the influence of BJP be it Humayun or Salim. But one thing is clear there is no space in Bengal’s soil.
On UGC, the education minister said: “The central government has only one political agenda, Hindi, Hindu, and Hindustan, and its education policy has emerged from this very mindset. Even then, we had clearly stated that each state has its own cultural and intellectual fabric, which must be respected. However, the Centre chose not to heed the concerns raised by West Bengal, Kerala, or Tamil Nadu. Now, the Supreme Court has intervened. What we had said six months ago has now been validated by the Supreme Court.”
MP Partha Bhowmick said the Union home minister is scheduled to address two political rallies in Barrackpore and Siliguri ahead of the 2026 Assembly polls. However, from post-2021 until just before the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, neither the Prime Minister nor the home minister found the time to visit Bengal.
“I am certain that we will once again hear the same old rhetoric of ‘ghuspetiya’ and ‘Rohingyas’. However, Amit Shah will not be able to answer what happened in Tripura, a BJP-ruled state. In just 15 days in October 2025, 22 Bangladeshi nationals were arrested there. In the last week of October alone, 11 Bangladeshis reportedly entered the state after paying Rs 2,000 per person. Locals have openly accused BSF personnel of accepting bribes to facilitate illegal entry. Areas like Khowai, Sonamura, and Belonia have effectively become infiltration corridors under BJP rule,” said Mr Bhowmick.