New Delhi: BJP MP from Odisha Sambit Patra on Friday strongly countered Trinamool Congress ‘Bengali-speaking people being deported to Bangladesh’ allegation.
“This is not based on facts… This is false, this is untrue. Odisha is the land of Lord Jagannath. Bengalis and Odias share a deep civilisational bond – Anga-Banga-Kalinga – and Lord Jagannath is cherished across both cultures. Since ancient days, Odisha’s progress has been inclusive, taking every state along with it. Bengali-speaking people are our brothers… we consider them as our own. But neither the Odisha government nor any MP or MLA of Odisha has any place in their heart for infiltrators — Bangladeshis or Rohingyas. They will not be allowed any space in Odisha,” he said during a heated exchange in Lok Sabha over the issue.
Sambit also condemned Trinamool Congress MP Shatabdi Roy’s remark that Hindi and Urdu speakers from the BJP should be sent to Pakistan. He also demanded Roy to withdraw this statement and sought the Chair’s protection against the language she used for Odisha’s Chief Minister Mohan Majhi.
Raising the issue during the Zero Hour in the House, Roy asserted that language could not be a ground for deportation while citing the case from Odisha. When her time ended and the microphone was switched off, Roy, along with party colleague Mahua Moitra, rushed to BJP MP Jugal Kishore’s seat and continued speaking into his microphone, prompting Chair Krishna Prasad Tenneti to ask her to return to her place.
Later, when Roy was allowed to conclude her speech, she said if Bengali-speaking people can be sent to Bangladesh, then BJP members should be sent to Pakistan for speaking Hindi and Urdu, leading to a fresh uproar.
Later, when Roy was allowed to conclude her speech, she triggered a fresh uproar by saying that if Bengali-speaking people can be sent to Bangladesh, then BJP members who speak Hindi and Urdu should be sent to Pakistan.
The remark led to protests from the treasury benches and Patra’s forceful rebuttal.
This came two days after MP Mahua Moitra issued a warning to Odisha DGP and Nayagarh SP while drawing their attention to alleged forcible removal of four Bengali-speaking Muslim traders, belonging to Murshidabad, from Odagaon in Odisha’s Nayagarh.
