Union Home Minister Amit Shah lashed out at the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress government in West Bengal while speaking in the Lok Sabha during a discussion on the Immigration and Foreigners Bill, 2025. Shah said that the bill will help curb illegal migrants and alleged that the TMC government is patronising the illegal infiltrators.
“Whether Bangladeshi infiltrators or Rohingyas, earlier they used to enter India through Assam when Congress was in power. Now they enter India through West Bengal, where TMC is in power. Who issues them Aadhaar cards, citizenship?… All the Bangladeshis who have been caught have Aadhaar cards from 24 Parganas district. You (TMC) issue Aadhaar cards and they come to Delhi with voter cards,” said the Union Home Minister.
Shah further claimed that the Bengal government is not providing land for fencing 450 km of the border along Bangladesh despite repeated reminders. “For fencing this 450 km, I have written a letter to the Bengal government and have sent 10 reminders.
The Bengal government is not providing land. For this 450km, the Home Secretary has held 7 meetings with the Bengal Chief Secretary, but they are not giving land for fencing. Where we go to erect a fence, the cadre of the ruling party comes and creates chaos, and raises religious slogans. The fencing for this 450 km is stopped just because the Bengal government is patronising infiltrators,” said Shah.
Speaking during the discussions on the Immigration and Foreigners Bill, 2025, Home Minister Amit Shah made a big statement defending the bill on Thursday and said that to ensure national security, it is important to know who, when, and why enter our country, and for how long they want to stay.
After the three-hour-long debate, Shah said, “This is very important. The main issue is that immigration is not an isolated subject, but it is directly or indirectly linked to various issues.”
“The bill will ensure close monitoring of everyone who visits India, why they visit India, and how long they want to stay in India. It is necessary to know the details of every foreigner visiting India,” he added.
He added, “I want to assure the country that we will have up-to-date information about every foreigner coming to our country.”
The Home Minister clarified that the government will keep a close watch on those who pose a threat to the security of India.
“I welcome everyone who wants to visit India as a tourist, for education, for health care, for R&D, for business. But those who come as a threat to the country, we will keep a close look at them,” he said.
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— SansadTV (@sansad_tv) March 27, 2025
Talking to ANI, Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi said that while they welcome the matter of national security but people who are critics of the present government are not allowed to enter India.
He said, “The Matter of national security is fine, we welcome it. If a person is a critic of the government of the day, they are not allowed to enter India. We have seen many such examples…”
#WATCH | Delhi: On the Immigration and Foreigners Bill, 2025, Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi says, “Matter of national security is fine, we welcome it. If a person is a critic of the government of the day, they are not allowed to enter India. We have seen many such examples… I think… pic.twitter.com/9FOBKhPj3z
— ANI (@ANI) March 27, 2025
The Revolutionary Socialist Party MP N. K. Premachandran told ANI that the opposition demanded that the Bill be referred to the standing or select committee since there are a lot of contentious provisions in it.
“The imposition of it will adversely impact the fact that India is being considered a destination for foreign investments and medical tourism,” he added.