West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s protest over exclusion of 40 lakh people from National Register of Citizens (NRC) has received support from Chief Minister and Telugu Desam Party (TDP) national president N. Chandrababu Naidu.
He said names of Muslim voters were being deleted across the country.
“We need to stand by the minorities. The developments in West Bengal, Assam, Jammu and Kashmir are worrying,” he said addressing a teleconference with the party MPs on Friday.
Mr. Naidu’s comment comes in the backdrop of Ms. Banerjee meeting with leaders of the Opposition and NDA allies in Parliament two days ago. She discussed various issues, including the NRC and the Federal Front’s rally in Kolkata.
‘Vested interests’
The people were agitated over deletion of names of 40 lakh people in the NRC. “The BJP was creating disturbances in society for its vested interests. Muslim voters’ names are being deleted. We all need to resist,” Mr. Naidu said, adding, “We need to work with parties such as the Trinamool Congress to fight against the BJP.” In the recent past too, the Central government took unilateral decisions on a sensitive issue – triple talaq. A dialogue was necessary before taking any decision on any issue. The discussion and dialogue lead to agreement and unanimity. Thrusting a few people’s opinions on others was not a welcome sign in democracy, he observed.
It was not to good for the nation if a party played with the sentiments of the people. “If it does, it will have to pay a heavy price,” he said.
The opposition parties should put up a united face and fight against the BJP, Mr. Naidu said. The need of the hour was to keep an eye on the conspiracies and attempts to suppress the strong leadership in the States. “The message that morality is important than majority has to go to the people,” he added.
