Assam Cong MP urges PM to enquire into nationality of MoS home affairs

Assam Congress chief and Rajya Sabha MP Ripun Bora has urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to enquire into the nationality of newly appointed Union minister of state for home affairs Nisith Pramanik.

Bora tweeted that a section of media has alleged that Pramanik was a Bangladeshi national. The Congress MP wrote a letter to PM Modi on July 16 urging the prime minister to conduct an enquiry. He uploaded the letter on Twitter on Saturday.

"Therefore I urge upon you to conduct an enquiry about the actual birthplace and nationality of Nisith Pramanik in a most transparent way and clarify the whole issue as it creates confusion across the country," Bora wrote in his letter to the PM.

Pramanik, a first-time Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP from Cooch Behar in West Bengal, was inducted into the Union Cabinet earlier this month. He was earlier with the Trinamool Congress (TMC). In 2019, ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, he sided with the BJP.

Even though Pramanik could not be reached, the BJP's Bengal unit hit back saying that these are mere allegations and need to be backed by proof.

"Anyone can raise any allegation. This doesn't prove anything. Steps can't be taken just on the basis of mere allegations. If he has some specific proof, he should make it public. It is not a healthy idea if one tries to become relevant just by raising some allegations," said Samik Bhattacharya, BJP spokesperson.

This is, however, not the first time that controversy has been triggered around the MP. Earlier, TMC Cooch Behar district president Partha Pratim Roy alleged that there were discrepancies in Pramanik's educational qualifications.

"Multiple portals in Bangladesh have recently claimed that Pramanik was born at Palasbari in Bangladesh. The portals quoted his relatives saying that they were proud of him as he has become an MoS. We were shocked and protested on social media. The air needs to be cleared," said Roy.