During a state legislative assembly session addressing alleged mistreatment of Bengali migrants, she underscored her objection to what she described as the government’s unilateral imposition of such weighty measures—without any parliamentary scrutiny. She demanded clarity on whether individuals granted stay without documentation would also receive voter registrations, Aadhar cards, ration entitlements or even voting rights in elections. She questioned the legality of the move, given the absence of any debate or parliamentary committee examination.
The provision, enacted under the Immigration and Foreigners Act, 2025, allows citizens from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan—specifically belonging to Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi and Christian communities—who entered the country on or before December 31, 2024, to stay without passports or travel documents. In contrast, the Citizenship Act grants citizenship to similar groups only if they arrived before December 31, 2014.
Her remarks have intensified political friction, portraying the policy as not only manipulative but also procedurally weak and fraught with ambiguity over the rights and recognition available to those it covers. She challenged the central narrative, alleging double standards and a pattern of privileging political optics over democratic process.
Tensions inside the assembly roared higher as legislators from the ruling party slammed opposition behaviour during her speech. Protesters were physically removed mid-session as slogans and disruptions postponed proceedings for more than two hours. The incident culminated in the suspension and removal of five opposition members from the chamber.
In her address, she asserted that such interventions would fail to sway voters, asserting that her party’s support would remain resilient even if those under the new policy gained basic civic entitlements. She suggested the opposition was overestimating its influence on electoral dynamics.
Her criticism reflects growing unease among regional leaders over central powers invoking immigration as an electoral lever—particularly when citizenship frameworks, social entitlements and electoral access remain undefined. The policy’s implementation, she argued, likely carries wider implications, potentially reshaping constituency demographics without democratic oversight or legislative transparency.