As the National Register of Citizens (NRC) scare looms large among people in the state, hundreds of panicked citizens in Kolkata have begun flocking to the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) health department every day to either obtain birth certificates or incorporate corrections in them. Mayor, Firhad Hakim, assured citizens that NRC will not happen in this state and said “while Mamata Banerjee is here, there is nothing to fear.” While the fear of NRC has already begun claiming lives of several panic stricken citizens in the state, long serpentine queues were witnessed at KMC’s health department today.

Most of the citizens are senior people who have either misplaced their birth certificates or have corrections to be incorporated. A KMC official said: “For the past few days, we have been giving out birth certificate forms to at least 100 people each day. Queues are forming from early morning by 9:30 am. Every passing day, the number is increasing.” Today was no different. A septuagenarian was seen waiting in the queue for hours to collect a form for a birth certificate. He said: “I have been standing in the queue for long. I need to obtain a birth certificate since mine was misplaced years back. I took my day off from other bank work only to attend to this.

Though the state government is doling out assurances that NRC will not happen, chances can’t be taken.” Another middle aged woman said: “My parents did not obtain the birth certificate from the KMC and I only have the certificate of the hospital where I was born. Given how names of several people were left out in the NRC in Assam, one cannot take chances. I don’t want to be declared as a foreigner in the very land I was born in.” Several others voiced the same concern, even suspecting that the move by the state government to convert ration cards to digital ones could be an attempt to preparing the ground for NRC in Bengal.

However, the state government through its advertising campaigns has constantly been telling citizens not to panic and the conversion to digital ration cards has nothing to do with NRC. Talking on the same, mayor Firhad Hakim said: “Citizens must not panic. They need not flock to KMC to obtain birth certificates out of fear of NRC. One can surely do it in order to ensure they have proper documents but NRC shouldn’t be the excuse. The chief minister has already declared that NRC will not happen in this state. While Mamata Banerjee is here, there is nothing to fear.”

However, the assurance by the mayor and the state government was not sufficient to allay the tension among citizens who question: “What if Mamata Banerjee is not there tomorrow and the Centre implements NRC here? What will we do then? Where will we go? The way in which the BJP government bagged 18 seats in the state in this Lok Sabha election, one cannot say what will happen in the upcoming Assembly elections.” NRC will not be carried out in Bengal, pledges Mamata: The chief minister Mamata Banerjee today once again asserted that National Register of Citizens (NRC) would not be carried out in West Bengal or anywhere else in the country.

It was conducted in Assam because of the Assam accord. Miss Banerjee was speaking at the inaugural programme of the bicentenary birth anniversary of Iswar Chandra Vidyasagar at his birthplace at Birsingha village in West Midnapore today. Coming down heavily on the BJP for creating panic over NRC in Bengal, Miss Banerjee said, “It has led to six deaths already. Have faith in me. I will never allow the exercise in Bengal”. “Who are they to ask for my papers? After so many years from where will I get my papers? The documents might have got washed away in natural calamity or it might have gotten misplaced,” Miss Banerjee said, without elaborating further.

The chief minister said, “After every 10 years, censuses are held in our country. There will be a Census in the coming year and it is a routine exercise of the Central government. Don’t be worried about the exercise. It is not connected with the NRC. You will have to submit information as the government records these facts for formulating development plans for future years”. Criticising the saffron party for “undermining democratic values” in the country, the chief minister said, “Democracy exists in Bengal but it is under threat in several other parts of the country.”