‘Indian citizens have become refugees in their own land’
NEW DELHI: Expressing concern over the exclusion of over 40 lakh people in the final National Register of Citizens (NRC) draft, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday said those “Indian citizens have become refugees in their own land”.
She also questioned the transparency of the final NRC draft, alleging that the Centre resorted to “vote bank and divide and rule policy”.
Banerjee alleged that the exclusion of over 40 lakh people was an “attempt to evict the Bengalis from Assam”.
“I am fighting for the Bengalis, Biharis and all. They are very much Indians. I am fighting for everybody,” she said.
Before leaving for Delhi, Banerjee told reporters at the state secretariat that she would try to meet Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh to discuss the issue.
Banerjee, who is also the Trinamool Congress chief, said the Centre could come up with a bill to protect the people who are staying in Assam for such a long time.
Stating that it is “very unfortunate” that those who are staying in Assam for five generations have become refugees because of the BJP government, she said, “I am sending a team of party MPS to Assam, and if necessary I will go there too.”
Banerjee claimed that names of some people who have passports, Aadhaar and voter cards had been excluded from the complete draft.
The Bengal CM who flew into the Capital on Monday afternoon is on a three-day visit. The TMC chief is scheduled to meet other senior opposition leaders and will be delivering a lecture at a conclave organised by the Catholic Bishops Conference of India on Tuesday morning.
The party sources stated that apart from opposition leaders, she will also meet Ram Jethmalani, former BJP leader Yashwant Sinha and disgruntled BJP MP Shatrughan Sinha on Tuesday afternoon.
The Bengal CM would be visiting the Central Hall of Parliament on Wednesday to personally invite opposition party leaders for her rally of “federal forces” at Kolkata in January 2019.