West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday displayed photo identity cards of some people dropped from Monday’s draft National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam and said the issue had been raised by the BJP-led Union government before the 2019 election for “electoral gains.”
Addressing a press conference at the State Secretariat in Kolkata, she said:
“Look, this is the Aadhar card of one Ontaj Chowdhury. And this one is his passport. But his name has not been featured in the draft NRC, while the government had announced that Aadhar, passport, employment document of employee in government service, driving licence, bank or post office [account] etc., are valid government documents. But in this case [of Mr. Chowdhury] the authority is not satisfied.
“This [NRC draft release], before the 2019 poll, is clearly part of the vote bank politics and election agenda. To decide who can vote for the BJP, and who cannot.”
To ‘divide and rule’
According to the Trinamool Congress (TMC) chairperson, the NRC update process had been initiated to “divide and rule.”
She said:
“This process, to forcefully evict people who are in the country for the last five or six generations, has been done to provoke people… so as to decide who votes for whom. This is an attempt to create a huge mass of refugees… to create disturbance.
“And, those who will suffer the most will be Bangla [West Bengal] and Bangladesh. Because we share our borders with Assam in Alipurduar and Cooch Behar. They may get pushed to Bangladesh as well and that should also concern Bangladesh.
“This is most unfortunate as Bengali, Bihari, Hindu, Muslims – everyone – will be affected and we cannot do this kind of politics to identify people from other States and push them back.”
Assam ‘cut off’
Hours before a three-day visit to New Delhi, Ms. Banerjee said Assam “is cut off from the rest of India as Internet is shutdown, which is a matter of great concern.”
The Home Minister had said that the Congress and the TMC were spreading panic. ''My question is [if there is no reason to panic], why the Central government is sending 15 additional companies of force to Assam. Also, why the networks are shutdown [and] we can’t receive fax or other messages. We can’t contact [people] in Assam, they can’t either… I fear people will be bulldozed,” she said.
However, Ms. Banerjee reiterated that she would not talk to the Bangladesh Prime Minister on the issue as it was “out of her purview.” But she would raise the issue in Delhi after reaching it later in the day.
'Will try to meet Rajnath'
Ms. Banerjee said she would attend an All-India Bishops Conference followed by a meeting at Ram Jethmalani’s residence on Tuesday.
“Yashwant Sinhaji, Arun Shourieji, Shatrugna Sinha will attend the meeting,” she said.
The day after, she would visit Parliament and talk to various party leaders on the draft NRC and other issues. “If I get an opportunity, I will also try to meet the Home Minister to talk about the [NRC] issue,” she said.
Iboyaima Laithangbam adds from Imphal
Manipur bars outsiders
The Manipur government has taken steps to check entry of foreigners into Manipur as a fallout of the publication of the draft NRC in Assam on Monday. Talking to a local cable network, Manipur Chief Minister Biren Singh said the State was an irresistable attraction to foreigners. As there are apprehensions that the foreigners would try to enter Manipur through Senapati, Jiribam and Tamengkong districts, security measures have been beefed up in these border districts.
