West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee met Union Home Minister Amit Shah in New Delhi on Thursday and raised the issue of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam.
After meeting Mr. Shah at his North Block office, the Trinamool Congress chief said many genuine Indians were excluded from the NRC in Assam and she requested the Home Minister to examine their cases as many of those excluded are Bengali-speaking people, Hindi-speaking, Gorkhas and even Assamese people.
“I have not come to discuss about the NRC in West Bengal, I have come to discuss about the NRC in Assam,” Ms. Banerjee said after the meeting.
On September 6, 2019, the West Bengal Legislative Assembly passed a resolution opposing the NRC in Assam. The resolution also categorically ruled out the possibility of any such exercise in the State.
Ms. Banerjee met Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday and raised the issue of renaming the State to Bangla .
Ms. Banerjee also invited the Prime Minister to inaugurate a coal block in the State. However, she didn't raise the issue of NRC with the Prime Minister. Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, she termed it “an Assam-specific issue”.
When it was pointed out that the BJP had announced plans for a nationwide NRC, she asserted that it would not be done in Bengal. “Neither has any proposal come, nor will it be done... This was a government to government meeting,” Ms. Banerjee added.
