Bharatiya Janata Party president Amit Shah began his election campaign in West Bengal on Friday with the promise to introduce National Register of Citizens (NRC) in the State if the Narendra Modi government is voted back to power. Addressing a rally here, he said the BJP was committed to protecting the interest of ‘Hindu refugees’ through the Citizenship Amendment Bill. “Mamata ji thinks that infiltrators will see her through in the polls... We will bring NRC and oust every infiltrator from the State,” Mr. Shah said. “I want to assure all the refugees that the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill is our commitment and Hindu, Buddhist and Sikh refugees will not be required to leave the country. They can live here with respect,” he said.
While several BJP leaders, including State party president Dilip Ghosh and State observer Kailash Vijayvargiya, had pitched for NRC in Bengal in 2018, the party had maintained silence on the contentious issue.
