TMC plans ‘black day’ protests
The Trinamool Congress (TMC) will observe “black day” throughout West Bengal on August 4 and 5 to protest against the detention and “manhandling” of its leaders at the Silchar airport in Assam on Thursday, a senior party leader familiar with the matter said on Friday .
TMC secretary general and West Bengal Education Minister Partha Chatterjee said the party will observe “black day” in every block and district of the state on Saturday and Sunday.
“We condemn the way the public representatives were manhandled and detained by the Assam police at the Silchar airport. They being MPs had every right to visit a place, but all rules were violated and our party delegation was stopped. This is shameful,” he told reporters here.
An eight-member TMC delegation, which had six MPs, were stopped at the Silchar airport when they tried to enter Assam’s Cachar district to assess the ground realities after the final draft of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) was published in the state on Monday.
‘NRC PROCESS FAIR’
Union home minister Rajnath Singh on Friday assured that there will be no discrimination or unnecessary harassment in the updation of the NRC and said the entire process has been fair and transparent.
Reiterating that the matter pertained to national security, he condemned alleged attempts by a “few” (persons) to create an atmosphere of fear based on rumours and propaganda on the social media and internationalise the issue.
Responding to a Short Duration Discussion on the issue in the Rajya Sabha, which saw disruptions and adjournments for a couple of days, the Minister said the Central and Assam governments are committed to adding the names of all genuine Indians in the list in a time-bound manner.
“I am reiterating that it is not the final NRC. It is just a draft NRC. Adequate opportunity will be provided to everyone for making claims and raising objections. Despite this, if anybody’s name remains out of the list, he can approach the Foreigners Tribunal,” Rajnath Singh said.
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