On 4th August 2005, when Banerjee was in the Opposition and the state was under communist rule, she held very different views on the issue. She had thrown papers at the deputy speaker and had raised the issue of illegal Bangladeshi immigrants obtaining voter id cards in her state.
It is being believed that several illegal Bangladeshi immigrants (IBIs) have journeyed to Bengal from Delhi, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka and some other states in recent weeks