Even as BJP leaders chose to remain silent on party leader Jagannath Sarkar’s remark on having “no barbed-fence between India and Bangladesh”, the Ranaghat MP on Sunday reiterated his statement, telling The Indian Express that he was referring to the prosperity of West Bengal if his party came to power in the state.“My stand is still the same. I am saying once again that at present, there is a need for a barbed wire border with Bangladesh. But once we come to power in West Bengal, and they will see our prosperity, then there will be no need for the fence,” the BJP MP said.AdvertisementIn a video of his address to party workers in Krishnaganj on October 30, Sarkar is heard saying in a video that has been shared widely on social media, “We promise that if we win the elections this time, the barbed wire fence separating us from Bangladesh will no longer remain. We were one, and in the future, we will become one.”As Sarkar’s video went viral on Saturday, TMC MP Abhishek Banerjee hit out at the BJP leadership. He posted on X: “The hypocrisy of the BJP leadership has fallen to new depths. BJP MP from Ranaghat, Jagannath Sarkar, declares that if BJP comes to power, there will be no borders between India and Bangladesh- both nations will become ONE again! On the other hand, the same BJP government, including Union Home Minister Amit Shah, keeps blaming the West Bengal government for not giving land to “protect” the very borders their own MP wants to erase!”“The silence of the BJP will only indicate that he spoke with the full consent of top leadership,” the TMC general secretary added.AdvertisementReacting to Abhishek Banerjee’s criticism, Sarkar told The Indian Express that the TMC leader “did not understand the context” in which he made the remark. “At one time, we were one. It was only after the Partition that it became Bangladesh. We gave birth to Bangladesh. Once we come to power in West Bengal, Bangladesh will want to be a part of us after seeing our development. So, then what is the need for the barbed wire borders?” the BJP said.“Bengal was called ‘Shonar Bangla (Golden Bengal)’. If we come to power, Bengal will again become Shonar Bangla. There will be development and prosperity in the state, and Bangladesh, our neighbouring country, will economically fall behind. Bangladesh has the same language and the same culture, and Bangladesh will feel that if they come join us, they will also prosper. Then, what will be the need for the barbed wire borders?” he added.He also targeted the TMC and the Left for creating a narrative of the BJP being against the Muslim community.“The BJP believes in development, and not in divisive politics. In India and especially in West Bengal, the Communists and the TMC created such a narrative for Muslims that claims that the BJP is anti-Muslims. Thus, it can be seen that the BJP is not getting the Muslim votes. In (BJP-ruled) Gujarat, there is a big Muslim population, and they are benefiting from the development of the state,” he said.BJP leaders remained tight-lipped on their party colleague’s remark. “Our senior party leaders are there to look into the matter,” said BJP MLA Agnimitra Paul.Sarkar’s remarks come at a time when the BJP in Bengal is facing the TMC’s heat on the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. While the BJP backs the process, saying it would “weed out infiltrators” who have entered the state from Bangladesh, the TMC has called it a backdoor implementation of the National Register of Citizens (NRC).Sarkar’s statement illustrates the political dilemma the BJP faces in Bengal and the tightrope walk it has to do in the coming months as the elections approach in the state.While the Ranaghat MP was trying to assuage the growing uneasiness among the Matua community about the SIR and the NRC, the statement, on the face of it, runs counter to the party’s anti-infiltration narrative. The BJP attempted to make alleged widespread infiltration from across the border with Bangladesh in West Bengal an electoral issue in the Jharkhand Assembly elections last year, but without much success. This time, it has again revived the “ghuspaithia (infiltration)” narrative in the Seemanchal region of Bihar, which is minority dominated. Bihar will vote in the first phase on November 6 and in the second phase on November 11.However, the party has to be mindful of not rubbing the Matuas the wrong way, given that their electoral heft helped it win 18 Lok Sabha seats in the 2019 parliamentary elections. Since then, with the TMC managing to regain a lot of ground among the Matuas, the BJP has not seen similar electoral returns despite widely publicising its success in implementing the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) that expedites the citizenship process of non-Muslims from neighbouring countries.