Raiganj (WB): BJP president Amit Shah on Thursday made a controversial statement where he referred to illegal migrants from Bangladesh as "termites”.  While addressing a rally, he alleged that the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress government in West Bengal was only interested in appeasing minorities.

“BJP party will throw them out after coming to power at the Centre for a second consecutive term” he added.

After coming to power, the BJP would find these termites and throw them out, he asserted, adding that citizenship would, however, be granted to every Hindu and Buddhist refugee.


"It is our commitment to bring in NRC across the country to chuck out each and every infiltrator. Unlike Mamata Banerjee, we don't treat infiltrators as our vote bank. For us national security is supreme. We would ensure that each and every Hindu and Buddhist refugee gets citizenship of this country," he said.

The NRC got mired in a massive controversy after the names of around 40 lakh people, living in Assam for decades, were omitted from the complete draft that was released last year.

The BJP chief claimed that TMC stood for Tushtikaran, (appeasement), Mafia and Chit Funds.

"The illegal immigrants are like termites. They are eating the grain that should go to the poor, they are taking our jobs. The T of TMC stands for Tushtikaran, (appeasement), M for Mafia and C for Chitfunds," Shah said.

Maintaining that the countdown to "corrupt" TMC government's downfall will begin on May 23, when the BJP bags 23 Lok Sabha seats from Bengal, Shah appealed to the voters to give the saffron party an opportunity to serve them.