Mahua Moitra’s Amit Shah remarks courts row; BJP files complaint

A political controversy has broken out after remarks made by Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Mahua Moitra about Union Home Minister Amit Shah, prompting the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to file a police complaint against her, according to The Hindu.

The BJP took strong objection to Moitra’s statement suggesting that Shah’s head should be “cut off” for allegedly allowing undocumented immigration into India. However, the TMC clarified that her comment was not intended to be taken literally, Scroll.in reported.

Speaking to reporters in West Bengal’s Nadia district on Thursday, the Krishnanagar MP accused Shah of failing to prevent “infiltrators” from crossing the borders, pointing out that the Border Security Force operates under the Union Home Ministry.

Moitra also referred to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s repeated claims that undocumented immigrants were entering India and taking away land. She questioned who bore the responsibility for securing the borders and stopping illegal entry.

On Thursday, Mahua Moitra referred to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Independence Day speech, where he spoke about “infiltrators” causing demographic changes. According to The Hindu, she pointed out that even as the prime minister made these claims, Union Home Minister Amit Shah was seen “smiling and clapping” in the front row.

She further remarked that if the borders were not being secured and people from other countries were entering daily, while citizens complained that “infiltrators” were threatening their families and grabbing their land, then the Union home minister should be held accountable.

Following her comments, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) filed a police complaint at the Kotwali Police Station in Krishnanagar, PTI reported. BJP spokesperson Sandeep Majumdar, who lodged the complaint, described Moitra’s remarks as “anti-national” and “anti-state.”

Moitra, in a social media post on Friday, said that this was the “modus operandi of BJP troll cell – pick one issue, give it to all resident twits (& an ‘a’ instead of an ‘i’ would be just as well) & make it ‘viral’ on social media”.’

She added: “Today’s theme is Mahua Moitra’s Off With His Head metaphor. Long live my infamy, guys. Love it.”

According to The Hindu, Kunal Ghosh, a Trinamool Congress leader and party colleague of Mahua Moitra, clarified that her remarks about Amit Shah were not meant to be taken literally. Gosh explained that Moitra intended to suggest that Shah’s name would “go out of people’s hearts,” adding that her statement was merely an expression and, at most, a “grammatical complex,” not a threat of physical harm.

The controversy arose against the backdrop of several Bengali-speaking migrant workers, mostly Muslims, being detained in various parts of the country on suspicion of being Bangladeshi nationals. The Trinamool Congress has accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of perpetrating what it describes as “linguistic terror” against Bengali-speaking individuals.