National Register of Citizens is for whole country, says Amit Shah

BJP president says Citizenship Bill will be passed before updating register

Flower shower: Amit Shah being garlanded at an election campaign rally at Shyampur in Howrah on Monday,

The citizenship ascertainment process in West Bengal will take a direction opposite to that in Assam, BJP president Amit Shah said here on Monday.

The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, he said, was introduced in Parliament after the update of the National Register of Citizens in Assam, while in West Bengal, the process will be the other way round.

“In the case of West Bengal, first the Citizenship Bill will be passed and refugees will be given citizenship and only then the NRC will be introduced,” Mr, Shah said. The Bill would not be introduced for West Bengal alone, he added.

“Please get the chronology correct. First the CAB will be introduced and then NRC. And the NRC will not be brought in only for Bengal but for the entire country,” Mr. Shah. The Bill was blocked earlier in Parliament by the Trinamool Congress and Congress,” he said.

When presspersons told him that people of West Bengal were in a state of panic as many including Hindu refugees were sent to detention camps following the NRC in Assam, Mr. Shah said Hindu refugees had no reason to panic.

Mamata response

In a south Bengal rally during the day, Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee targeted Mr. Shah on the NRC, and said she would “never allow the NRC in Bengal”.

“It is an attempt to turn citizens to foreigners in the name of NRC which will not be allowed,” Ms. Banerjee said.

Mr. Shah said her allegations against the Election Commission’s observers were baseless. On Sunday, she alleged that the special observer was working for the BJP. She had alleged that the BJP was running a “parallel” government in the State.