Trinamool to make NRC a major plank in next polls, indicates Mamata
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee today indicated that her Trinamool Congress party would make the controversial National Register of Citizens (NRC) a major plank in the assembly polls in the state next year.
Addressing a virtual rally, she said the people of West Bengal have not forgotten "how innocents were killed during riots in Delhi and thrown into detention camps in Assam."
"Just because now we have a pandemic, we have not forgotten the fight against NRC and NPR (National Population Register). We have not forgotten how innocents were killed in Delhi riots and how people were thrown into detention camps after NRC," Mamata, who has been in power since May 2011, said.
The NRC is aimed at detecting "illegal" immigrants from Bangladesh since March, 1971, reports our New Delhi correspondent
The final NRC in Assam was published in Assam in August 2018 and along with Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) that seeks to give Indian citizenship to minorities from Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Pakistan,
"What citizenship is BJP talking about? The refugees have already got citizenship. BJP only wants to create rift between communities," she said.
"An attempt is being made to stir up communal disharmony. Remember that people from all faiths are equal. This country and West Bengal are for all," Mamata added.
The rally marked the virtual kickstart of West Bengal's ruling Trinamool Congress' campaign for next assembly polls in the state Mamata launched a sharp attack against Bharatiya Janata Party and the saffron party-led federal government accusing them of hatching conspiracies to topple elected opposition government in states.
Mamata also described BJP as an "outsider" in West Bengal and said the state should not be ruled by "Gujarat and outsiders but by the people of Bengal."
She alleged the federal government was depriving Bengal of resources and asserted the state's people would give "a befitting reply to it for the injustice done to the state."