Kolkata, 18 December (H.S.): A political storm has erupted over the massive fire that broke out in a densely populated slum near Eco Park in Kolkata. Early Thursday morning, BJP leader Amit Malviya took to the social media platform X (formerly Twitter) to level serious allegations against the TMC government, claiming the fire was deliberately set.

In his post, Malviya stated that the fire broke out just days before the Election Commission was scheduled to begin hearings on notices issued to illegal Bangladeshi and Rohingya settlers. He claimed that since the SIR process began in West Bengal, instances of vacant and locked shanties in Kolkata's suburban areas have been frequently observed.

Malviya alleged that the slum was inhabited by many people from Bangladesh, and many slum dwellers had locked their homes and left to cross the border, with only a few remaining behind.

He further alleged that despite the severity of the fire, fire tenders were not dispatched promptly, raising serious questions. Malviya claimed that thousands of names had been removed from the area after the draft electoral roll was published.

According to him, To cover up these glaring omissions and facilitate their re-inclusion in the voter list, it is widely believed that the TMC orchestrated this fire. The objective appears to be to later claim that residents lost their documents (Aadhaar, ration cards, and voter ID cards) in the blaze, paving the way for fresh documents to be issued, enabling them to falsely establish citizenship credentials.

Concluding his post, Malviya said, This is not just an administrative failure; it is deliberate manipulation. Mamata Banerjee is playing with fire. This time, quite literally.

As of the time of filing of the news, there has been no official response from the TMC or the West Bengal government regarding these serious allegations.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Priyanka Pandey