BJP Leader Tathagata Roy's 'Circumcision Test' Suggestion For Citizenship Seekers Sparks Row, TMC Says ‘Vulgar’

Veteran BJP leader from West Bengal, Tathagata Roy, found himself embroiled in a controversy after suggesting a “circumcision test” to ascertain the religion of males seeking citizenship under the newly implemented Citizenship (Amendment) Act. In response, Trinamool Congress called the former Tripura Governor’s comments “vulgar”.

Making his suggestion, Roy took to microblogging site X (formerly Twitter) and wrote, “OMG, what coyness, what modesty! Big deal about checking whether a male is circumcised or not! CAA completely excludes Muslims from conferring of citizenship. So in case of doubt this test is perfectly in order.”

In support of his stance, he added, “Many years back when we were undergoing admission to Engineering Colleges ALL MALES were subjected to a medical test which included disrobing before a male doctor! Not to find out if one was circumcised but if one had hydrocele.  Nobody ever objected to it! Why now?”

The former Bengal BJP chief faced severe backlash for his comments and later clarified his earlier remarks on CAA. He said he made the suggestion in view of the Muslims’ exclusion from the law to grant citizenship.

“I had suggested checking whether a male is circumcised or not when his religion is in doubt. Because Muslims are completely excluded from CAA. I stick to what I posted. The resulting explosion, mostly from Muslims, suggests one of two things. Either a lot of Muslims wanted to pass off as non-Muslims by faking their identities and are now scared their bluff might be called,” Roy wrote on X.

Roy also accused the Trinamool Congress of “raining disinformation” about people who fled Bangladesh due to persecution there. West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee has called the CAA an “election gimmick” and alleged it was implemented to “harass people”, adding that her government will not implement it.

TMC responds

The Trinamool Congress has termed Tathagata Roy’s comments on CAA a “vulgar jibe”, questioning the “narrative” the BJP wanted to put forward. CAA, passed in 2019 and notified last Monday, aims to grant Indian citizenship to persecuted minorities – Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis, Christians but not Muslims – from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan who arrived in India by 2014.

TMC leader Kunal Ghosh said Tathagata Roy was “perpetuating religious discrimination in the form of such lowly and vulgar jibes.”

“Tathagata Roy crossed all boundaries today by asserting his views on CAA mentioning that circumcision should be the deciding factor to determine the citizenship…, which also reflects upon the ridiculous narratives that @BJIndia enables and promotes in the country,” Ghosh wrote on X.

Senior TMC leader Mamata Bala Thakur said in a video message on TMC’s official X handle.

“He was a governor [of Tripura and Meghalaya]. We don’t expect such a comment from him, asking for testing a person’s private parts to ascertain religious identity. We call upon Bengalis and Matuas to unite in protest against that.”