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Won’t allow implementation of NRC in Bengal, says Mamata Banerjee

Appeals to other political parties except BJP, to launch joint movement against NRC in the state.

Won’t allow implementation of NRC in Bengal, says Mamata Banerjee

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. (Photo: SNS)

Chief minister Mamata Banerjee said the Trinamul Congress government will not allow implementation of the NRC in the state and has appealed to the other political parties except the BJP to launch joint movement against NRC in Bengal.

The implementation of the NRC is nothing but a political vendetta of the BJPled Central government, she said while speaking on the issue in the House.

“We will never let the BJP implement the National Register of Citizens in West Bengal,” she said at the Assembly during a discussion on the motion on NRC under Rule 185.

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“This (NRC implementation) is nothing but an attempt to divert the attention of the people from the ongoing economic crisis in the country,” she said.

Assam is the only state in the country where the NRC has been implemented. The final list was published on 31 August.

“There is nobody in the country to speak against the BJP,” Miss Banerjee added.

However,she has urged all political parties except the BJP to join ranks launch a country-wide movement against the NRC, from Bengal.

She said two treaties were signed ~ the first treaty was signed in New Delhi by Prime Minister Jawahar Lal Nehru and Prime Minister Liaquat Ali Khan on 8 April, 1950.

The treaty was the outcome of six days of talks sought to guarantee the rights of minorities in both countries after the Partition of India and to avert another war between them.

Second treaty was signed between Indira Gandhi and Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. They signed the treaty of friendship, co-operation and peace in Dhaka on 2 March in 1972.

The chief minister, during her speech, also hit out at the BJP-led government at the Centre for trying to take the credit for the Chandrayaan2moon mission. Indian Space Research Organisation’s (ISRO) Chandrayaan-2spacecraft is set to land on the Moon anytime between 1.30 a.m. and 2.30 a.m. on Saturday.

“Sometimes they (BJP) are pointing to the Chandrayaan2 mission as if they are the first to have done so. This (research work) is going on for the last 60-70 years,” she said.

Continuing her tirade, the chief minister said, “Suddenly, today he (Prime Minister Modi) has gone there (at the ISRO headquarters in Bengaluru) . Now for the next four days the issue of Chandrayaanwill continue to dominate. As if they (the BJP) have done everything in the country. (As if) they have invented science …,” she said.

Prime Minister Modi is presently at the ISRO headquarters to witness the final descent of Chandrayaan-2 on the Lunar South Pole in the early hours of 7 September The chief minister today criticised the manner in which former Union minister P Chidambaram was sent to Tihar jail in the INX Media case.

The Central government should have shown him “minimum respect”, as he was the former home and finance minister, she told the state Assembly here.

“I don’t know what is there in the Chidambaram case. Law will take its own course. But what was the purpose of keeping him in Tihar jail like an ordinary prisoner? They should have shown minimum respect to him and term him as a political prisoner,” the CM said.

She even criticised the procedure by which Article 370 has been abrogated in Jammu and Kashmir.

“If there is peace in the valley then why thousands of Armed Force personnel are deployed there?” she asked.

Opposing the motion, the BJP MLA, Manoj Tigga staged a walkout in protest against it. BJP MLA Manoj Tigga slammed the chief minister, saying, she took an opposite stand on the issue 13 years back.

On 4 August 2005, Miss Banerjee had given a notice for an adjournment motion on the issue.

According to Tigga, Miss Banerjee had said in the Lok Sabha that infiltration into Bengal has become a disaster and Bangladesh nationals were on the voting list. She had also alleged that the ruling CPI-M were benefiting from illegal Bangladeshis as they had been a vote bank for the Left party, said Tigga.

He refuted that the move was aimed at updating citizen record and that the BJP was simply following the instructions of the Supreme Court by implementing NRC.

CPI-M leader Sujan Chakraborty said that citizenship can never be determined by a piece of paper. The move is not against Bangladesh infiltrators but against those who don’t possess strong evidential documents which means against the socially backward section of the society.

“Though NRC is being planned for the entire country, the main target is Bengal. It is a war of uniformity against equality. The move involves a huge cost as for Assam alone. `13,000 crore was spent. We can imagine the enormous expenditure when it would be done for the whole country.We will not allow NRC in Bengal.” he stated.

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