Hotels in West Bengal's Siliguri are boycotting Bangladeshi nationals for the New Year due to 'anti-India campaigns'. The ban includes students and medical patients, with hoteliers stating that the country's identity comes before business.
Siliguri Hotels Boycott Bangladeshi Nationals
Hotel owners from West Bengal's Siliguri have announced an extension of the boycott on Bangladeshi nationals in their establishments for the New Year, citing recent anti-India campaigns from across the border. Following the recent anti-India campaigns, the owners decided not to allow Bangladeshi nationals. Posters reflecting the ban have been put up in hotels across the city.
Ujjwal Ghosh, Joint Secretary of Greater Siliguri Hotel Welfare Association, said, "No Bangladeshi Nationals are being allowed to stay in any hotel this time. Even Bangladeshis coming on student visas and for medical treatment are not being given hotels." Ghosh further added, "The anti-India statements being made by Bangladesh must be restrained. First comes the country's identity, then business. Business cannot be given priority by hurting the country's identity."
Sandip Kumar, Secretary of the Greater Siliguri Hotel Welfare Association, said, "Those who are passing remarks against our country, we will allow them to take any facilities in the hotel industry. Apart from the organisation, those who are not our members they also support the decision."
Tanmay Mani, manager of a hotel in Siliguri, said, "Last year, during the time of New Year, we had given some relaxation to the students and medical patients. But now we are totally boycotting the Bangladeshi Nationals."
Amit Shah Slams Mamata Banerjee Over Infiltration
Earlier today, while addressing a press conference in West Bengal, Union Home Minister Amit Shah questioned West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee over the alleged infiltration of illegal immigrants in the state, accusing her government of refusing to provide land for border fencing. "It is the West Bengal government which is not allotting land to establish border fencing along Bangladesh. Can the CM answer why infiltration has stopped at the borders of Tripura, Assam, Rajasthan, Punjab, Kashmir and Gujarat? It is because, in West Bengal, infiltration occurs under your watch to bring about demographic change and strengthen your votes.
The next election will be fought on the issues of stopping infiltration and removing infiltrators from here. Infiltration happening from the Bengal border is an issue of national security," Shah said. He said that infiltration has stopped in Tripura and Assam, while it continues in West Bengal.
Shah claimed that Mamata Banerjee wants the infiltration to continue for political purposes, which he said was "to expand her vote bank".
"Mamata, today I want to ask you a simple question. Which government refuses to provide land for border fencing? I will answer it myself -- it is your government that does not provide land for border fencing. I then want to ask why infiltrators first enter Bengal. What are your patwaris and police stations doing? Why are these infiltrators not sent back? Can the Bengal government explain why infiltration has been stopped in Assam and Tripura? It is happening only in Bengal because this is taking place under your watch. You want to change Bengal's demography to expand your vote bank," he said. (ANI)
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by Asianet Newsable English staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)