Cooch Behar: BJP Rajya Sabha member and Greater Cooch Behar leader Nagendra Ray, popularly known as Anant Maharaj, has triggered a major controversy by calling some leaders holding top constitutional positions “Pakistanis and Bangladeshis”.
Anant Maharaj made the comments while addressing a public programme at Ada Bari Ghat in the Sitai constituency under the Dinhata subdivision of Cooch Behar district on Saturday. Speaking on the National Register of Citizens (NRC), he alleged that leaders demanding identity documents from citizens were themselves foreigners. Referring to the Home Minister’s statements on NRC and detention camps, Anant Maharaj said: “…The people asking us to show documents are themselves Pakistanis and Bangladeshis. The President is Pakistani, the Prime Minister and the Governor of West Bengal are Pakistani and Bangladeshi. They are telling us to show documents, but this is our land and we are residents here.”
The remarks immediately triggered sharp political reactions and have put the BJP in an uncomfortable position, particularly in the run-up to the 2026 West Bengal Assembly elections. Coming from a sitting Rajya Sabha MP, the statement has raised questions over the party’s internal discipline and political strategy in North Bengal. Anant Maharaj is a prominent leader of the Greater Cooch Behar movement, which demands a separate state or Union Territory. Although he supported the BJP during the 2019 Lok Sabha and 2021 Assembly elections, his relationship with the party has reportedly deteriorated since 2024, making his latest comments politically significant.
District-level BJP leaders have distanced themselves from the controversy. District BJP vice president Biraj Bose said he was unaware of the statement and described it as Anant Maharaj’s personal opinion.
Trinamool Congress district chairman Girindra Nath Barman said such remarks against constitutional authorities were unacceptable. He reiterated that the party’s stand on the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) was that no genuine citizen’s name should be deleted from the electoral rolls.