Arakan News Agency
On Wednesday, An Indian Minister sharply criticized the Trinamool Party for its opposition to the special review conducted by the election commission in Bihar ahead of the upcoming elections. He accused the party of seeking to maintain a voting bloc consisting of Rohingya and Bangladeshis.
The minister, Sukanta Majumdar, accused the party of undermining the electoral process by protesting this review, considering that these positions reflect a long-term strategy of the party aimed at protecting its voter base.
On its part, the Trinamool Party confirmed that Indian Bengalis are being discriminated against in states governed by the Bharatiya Janata Party, adding that Bihar’s Prime Minister, Mamata Banerjee, led a march to support and reassure immigrants. This comes amidst escalating conflicts with the Assam Chief Minister over what Trinamool deemed as the mistreatment of Bengalis.
Recently, authorities in the Indian state of Bihar have begun an intensive review of voter lists amidst concerns about the infiltration of migrants, particularly the Rohingya, into state voter lists.
The process takes place amid criticisms and accusations exchanged between political parties about the credibility of the review and its being an attempt to exclude millions of legitimate voters. This review process is the first in the state since 2005.
Indian authorities continue to pursue Rohingya refugees and those assisting them internally to enter the country and live there, as they do not recognize them as refugees despite holding UNHCR cards, targeting them as illegal migrants, as India is not among the signatories to the refugee convention.
More than a million Rohingya have fled from Rakhine State in western Myanmar in recent years after the Myanmar military launched a genocidal campaign against them in 2017. The Arakan Army (separatist) launched a military campaign to control the state in November 2023, also involving violence, displacement, and forced recruitment. Most of them live in crowded camps in Bangladesh, while some seek to move to other countries in search of better living conditions.
