By Hassan Ali

Bengal elections campaign became a hardline for Delhi and Bengalis. Some Ministers of Delhi spreading false propaganda against Bangladesh and Bengalis especially, Amit Shah during the election campaign in West Bengal. Unfortunately, Amit shah is India's home minister and former president of the ruling fundamentalist political organization called Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). In Calcutta’s Ananda bazar he addressed the newspaper, and he disdains the integrity of the Bengali people; he stated, "The poor people of Bangladesh is still do not get food, so they come to India. If BJP comes to power in West Bengal, infiltration from Bangladesh would be stopped.

Bangladesh had not officially and formally protested on Amit Shah's statement, but in reply to Amit Shah's latest statement, the Foreign Minister of Bangladesh AK Abdul Momen said: "His knowledge about Bangladesh is limited. On the contrary, in some areas, Bangladesh is far ahead of India." There is a long history of Indian politicians, disregard the people of Bengal and Bangladesh. On 11^th February, 2021, Amit Shah speaks about Bangladeshis; Earlier, at a public meeting in West Bengal he again gave provocative remarks and alleged infiltration from the Bangladesh border to Indian Border. He stated, “If the BJP came to power in West Bengal, "not just people, even a bird, will not be able to enter the country through the border."

He did not stopped there. In 2019, he rendered a policy guideline in a meeting and categorically said Bangladeshi would be found and expelled from the land of west Bengal. In his policies, he mentioned to the BSF in November 2020 that the border should be sealed "even mosquitoes and flies cannot enter. Histories know that West Bengal is also a part of United Bengal under the rule of Sijar dolha.

It is now clear that Delhi has intensified these anti-Bangladesh campaigns as the West Bengal Assembly elections had begun. Their target is to defeat Bengal Daughter Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress party and seize West Bengal's power. Due to hatred and persecution against the Muslim community, the Muslim vote in West Bengal is less likely to go to the BJP, counting 30% of the total vote. The most proactive "Pakistan card" in Indian elections is obsolete in West Bengal because of the geographical distance.

After the Failure of the Pakistan card, Delhi is now keen to run the "Bangladesh card" because the two parts of Bengal have a bitter history of partition by the British Colonial rule and the huge migration and sad history of Hindu-Muslim communal riots. The Muslim Rulers, language, literature, religion, and common culture have made a historical bond between the two parts of Bengal.

Bangladesh officials have several times said that Bangladesh would accept its citizens wherever they are in India if India provides a list with the appropriate evidence. However, Amit Shah could not give it, even after becoming the home minister because Amit Shah knows very well that there is no Bangladeshi Muslim infiltration in India, which is their headache.

It's a huge conspiracy against Bengalis people and Muslims of Bangladesh came to India for jobs through illegal immigration. Here the questions arise, why would Muslims of Bangladesh go to India and opt for third-class citizens? In India, minorities cannot go for the rent houses in dominant areas of upper caste of Hindus; they do not get high-ranking jobs in Government and cample to do lower-class jobs. On the other side in Bangladesh, they are first-class citizens. They get government jobs, and Bangladesh is the Asia tiger in terms of economy. Then why the people of Bangladesh left their homelands and migrated to India.

Bangladesh is patiently observing the allegations and propaganda of Delhi. Bangladesh protested several times on Indian behavior; on the other side, Bangladesh gives a huge number of jobs to Indian citizens for regional stability. The Indian work in garments, the IT sector, textiles, and various NGOs based in Bangladesh. According to some media reports, most Indian citizens are sending money to India through hundi. The Refugee and Migration Movements Research Unit, in its 2019 report showed that remittances from Indian nationals from Bangladesh amounted to $4 billion. There is no official data on how many Indians are working legally or illegally in Bangladesh, but it is not less than half a million.

On the other hand, the official statistics showed that 2.25 million tourists (one in five foreign tourists) went to India from Bangladesh in 2018. The US is in second place. Although Amit Shah did not know the role of this massive number of tourists in the Indian economy, what happened to the business of Kolkata in the absence of Bangladeshi tourists after the Covid-19 situation -- the businessmen of Kolkata understood it well.