Kolkata, April 8 (IANS): The Union Minister of State for Ports, Shipping and Waterways, Shantanu Thakur, claimed on Monday that he received a threat letter from the terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) over the National Register of Citizens (NRC).

Speaking to mediapersons here, Thakur, whom the BJP has renominated from the Bangaon Lok Sabha seat in North 24 Parganas district, claimed that the threat letter reportedly sent by the LeT was written in Bangla.

The letter said if people from the Muslim community in West Bengal suffer because of the implementation of NRC, the entire country will burn, Thakur claimed.

The letter also threatened to blow up the Thakurbari in Bangaon, the ancestral residence of the Union Minister which is also a religious centre for the Matua community.

Matuas are people from the backward-class refugee community who migrated to India from Bangladesh.

The letter is signed by two persons named Nazrul Islam Saheb Ali and Fazar Ali, the Minister claimed, adding that it was posted from Deganga in North 24 Parganas district as per the seal of the post office on the envelope.

“I want to ask Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee how can a terror outfit send such a threat letter to a sitting MP who is also a Union Minister. It is shameful that such outfits are flexing their muscles in West Bengal. I will report the matter to Union Home Minister Amit Shah," Thakur said.

Reacting to Thakur's claims, former Trinamool Congress Rajya Sabha member Shantanu Sen called it a cooked-up story meant to create controversies in the state ahead of the Lok Sabha polls.

“Who can tell if the sender of the letter is not a close associate of the recipient himself,” Sen said.