Kolkata, April 28: BJP’s Information Technology (IT) cell chief and the party’s central observer for West Bengal Amit Malviya, on Monday, used an innovative cartoon with the tagline “Join TMC, Become Citizen” to accuse the West Bengal government and the ruling Trinamool Congress of making the state an open field for illegal Bangladeshi infiltrators.

Malviya has said the cartoon is in connection with the recent arrest of an illegal Bangladeshi infiltrator, Ahammed Hossain Azad, by the Enforcement Directorate officials. Investigation revealed that Azad was not residing in West Bengal illegally but was also involved in money laundering, as well as arranging fake Indian identity documents for illegal Bangladeshi infiltrators.

In the cartoon, a portrait of a woman (arguably featuring West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee) is seen behind a counter with the hoarding — “Seva Kendra- One stop for every document”.

The counter window has three taglines, namely — “Welcome New Voters, Join TMC, Become Citizen”, “AADHAAR, Voter ID, Ration, Pan”, and “No document required, no question asked”.

The counter board contains an additional tagline — “Special Assistance available for Rohingyas & Bangladeshi”.

Since the beginning of the new year, there have been several incidents of arrests in connection with operations being conducted in the state. Those arrested were involved in arranging fake Indian identity documents, including Indian passports, for illegal Bangladeshi infiltrators.

Last month, Kolkata Police filed a charge sheet in the case of the forged passport scam at a lower court in Kolkata, where it was mentioned that of the 130 individuals mentioned in the document, 120 are Bangladeshi residents and the remaining are Indian nationals.

The main charges against the Bangladeshi nationals are that they paid huge money to secure fake Indian passports.

The charges against the accused Indian nationals are that they played the roles of facilitators for arranging fake Indian identity documents, including Indian passports, for these infiltrators.

Earlier, Kolkata Police arrested Abdul Hai, a retired Assistant Sub-Inspector of the city police. The details of Hai’s involvement in the matter were also mentioned in the charge sheet.

It contained details of Hai’s financial gain through these 52 police verification clearances, where he was the on-ground inquiry or verification officer.

The cops investigating the fake Indian identity document rackets have identified a specific pattern.

Any infiltrator illegally crossing over to the Indian territory contacts the local agents, and after showing willingness to pay out hefty amounts for getting fake Indian identity documents, is first provided with safe shelters in different villages adjacent to the borders with Bangladesh in the state, both land and coastal.

Thereafter, the agents arrange for fake ration cards for them, which is the first step for making other identity documents. By virtue of the fake ration cards, other identification documents like EPIC, PAN, and Aadhaar cards are acquired. The last step is getting fake passports based on these fake identity documents.

New Delhi, April 28: The Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) has carved a significant milestone in the annals of the Jawaharlal Nehru University Students’ Union (JNUSU) elections. Vaibhav Meena, representing the ABVP, has ascended to the position of Joint Secretary, breaking a decade-long dry spell for the organisation.

This victory is emblematic of ABVP’s stellar performance, as it clinched an impressive 23 out of 42 councillor seats across 16 schools and special centres — a record-breaking achievement for any student body.

Amit Malviya, the BJP’s National Information and Technology Department In-charge and Co-incharge for West Bengal, celebrated this victory on his X handle: “Jawaharlal Nehru University Students’ Union (JNUSU) conquered: Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) candidate Vaibhav Meena has been elected as Joint Secretary. And it doesn’t stop there. ABVP has delivered an unprecedented performance in the JNUSU elections, winning 23 out of 42 councillor seats across 16 schools and special centres – the highest number of seats won by any student organization.”

Throughout the vote-counting process, ABVP candidates showcased remarkable dominance, leading in all four central panel positions and mounting a formidable challenge to the university’s entrenched Left-leaning political dominance.

Although the ABVP fell short in securing the posts of President, Vice-President, and General Secretary, the narrow margins of defeat underscored a palpable shift in the campus dynamics.

Vaibhav Meena’s victory as Joint Secretary was secured with an impressive tally of 1,518 votes.

Nitish Kumar of the All India Students’ Association (AISA) emerged as President, garnering 1,702 votes, while Manisha and Munteha Fatima, both from the Democratic Students’ Federation (DSF), claimed the posts of Vice-President and General Secretary, respectively.

Manisha secured 1,150 votes, while Munteha Fatima’s win further solidified DSF’s presence in the central panel by securing 1,520 votes.

The ABVP fielded a comprehensive panel, with Shikha Swaraj, Nittu Goutham, Kunal Rai, and Vaibhav Meena contesting for the positions of President, Vice-President, General Secretary, and Joint Secretary, respectively.

Their campaign reflected a strategic and determined effort to reshape the political narrative on campus.

The elections, held on April 25 after delays caused by campus unrest, witnessed an enthusiastic voter turnout of nearly 70 per cent, with approximately 5,500 students casting their ballots.

The multi-cornered contest was marked by intense competition among strategic alliances: the All India Students Association (AISA) allied with the Democratic Students’ Federation (DSF), while the Students’ Federation of India (SFI) joined forces with the Birsa Ambedkar Phule Students’ Association (BAPSA), the All India Students’ Federation (AISF), and the Progressive Students’ Association.

The ABVP contested the election independently.

This year’s turnout of 68.3 per cent, though slightly lower than the record-breaking 73 per cent participation in the 2024 elections, still reflected robust engagement. Of the 7,906 registered voters, 5,400 exercised their franchise on election day. Polling was conducted in two sessions, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 2:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m., across 17 booths on the JNU campus on April 25. The counting of votes commenced late on Friday night, with the results officially declared on Monday (April 28).

Mumbai, April 28: The Shiv Sena(UBT) in its mouthpiece ‘Saamana’ editorial on Monday took a swipe at the Centre over the presence of a large number of Pakistanis in the country, alleging that the number of Pakistani and Bangladeshi citizens has increased in the country during the tenure of BJP.

“Does the government have an answer to this? The Central government did launch a campaign to send back Pakistani citizens to their country, but where the BJP has been in power for years, most Pakistanis are found. So these people have definitely been sleeping for so many years. Again, where the BJP is not in power or is, campaigns are being started to harass Muslim students, fruit sellers, vegetable and cloth vendors, and small and big businessmen by declaring them as Pakistani citizens. Due to this, the original Pakistani citizens and infiltrators were left aside; a separate agenda is being implemented,” Saamana editorial said.

“How did these infiltrators make inroads when the security forces are guarding the border? The Prime Minister of the country calls himself the people’s watchman; but if Pakistani citizens, infiltrators and terrorists are crossing the border by breaking the barriers at the border and entering India, living comfortably in any state of the country and disappearing after committing attacks and massacres like Pahalgam, what exactly is the government, the country’s home department and intelligence agencies doing?” asked the Shiv Sena(UBT) in the editorial.

The editorial said that the number of Pakistani and Bangladeshi citizens in the country has increased during the BJP’s tenure. “However, after the Pahalgam attack, the Central government has started a campaign to send Pakistani citizens to Pakistan. After Union Home Minister Amit Shah himself gave such instructions to the Chief Ministers of all the states of the country, the states have swung into action. When this deadline expired on Sunday evening, a number of Pakistani citizens were deported to their country through the Attari border until the last moment. However, information is coming to light that thousands of Pakistani citizens are camped in the country even after the deadline expired. It is right that Pakistani citizens were deported out of the country, but why was there a need to wait for an attack like Pahalgam for this?” asked the Uddhav Thackeray camp in the editorial.

“Basically, why should thousands of Pakistanis come and live in India, and why should our country also allow them to come? We consider Pakistan an enemy country, so why were such a large number of Pakistani citizens allowed to enter every state of the country legally and illegally? Well, how many of these Pakistani citizens have visas and other valid documents and how many people have illegally infiltrated and are living in India? This is also a subject of research. Among the thousands of Pakistanis living in India, how many Hindus and how many Muslims are from Sindh province should also be carefully verified,” said the editorial.

The editorial further said that there were 5,023 Pakistani citizens living in 48 cities in Maharashtra. More than half of them, 2458 Pakistanis, were found in Nagpur city alone, which is the city where the state’s Chief Minister and the headquarters of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) are located. Therefore, if there are 2,500 Pakistanis living in Nagpur and the police administration does not have any information about them, then it must be said that the security of Maharashtra as well as the country is at risk.

“More than a thousand Pakistani citizens lived in the Deputy Chief Minister’s city of Thane, and 33 of them are missing. Pakistani citizens have spread their presence in a total of 48 cities of the state, and they are living here after their visas have expired or without valid documents. Isn’t this dangerous for the security of the country? If more than 5,030 in Maharashtra, 30,000 in Rajasthan, 2,000 in Chhattisgarh, 228 in Madhya Pradesh and 5,000 in Delhi, the capital of the country itself, are living unhindered, then it is a big game with the security of the country. Basically, how can thousands of people from an enemy country like Pakistan illegally go to every corner of India? Where did they come from? How did the government remember these thousands of Pakistani citizens living in India only after the Pahalgam attack? Does the government have an answer to this?” asked the Shiv Sena(UBT) in the editorial.

“There is no way to know how many of these Pakistanis returned by the end of the April 27 deadline and how many are still in the country. If we take the example of Maharashtra alone, there were as many as 5,023 Pakistanis living in our state. Although many of them have now been deported to Pakistan, reports have been published that 107 Pakistani citizens living in Maharashtra are missing. The state’s Minister of State for Home, Yogesh Kadam, himself said that the police searched for these 107 Pakistani citizens a lot, but they were not found, so we have to believe him. However, his statement has been contradicted by the Chief Minister, who is in charge of the Home Department. The CM has claimed that not a single Pakistani is missing. However, the Minister of State for Home and the Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde are claiming that 107 Pakistanis are missing, while CM Fadnavis is insisting that there is no such thing. If there is no consensus within the government on such a sensitive matter, how can it work?” asked the Shiv Sena UBT in the editorial.

“If the Chief Minister, Deputy Chief Minister and ministers are giving such contradictory information, who should the public trust? questioned the editorial.