Trinamool team stopped at Silchar airport
BJP WORKERS MARCH IN KOLKATA TO DEMAND NATIONAL REGISTRATION OF CITIZENS IN WEST BENGAL AS WELL
Tension prevailed at Kumbhirgram airport in Silchar in Assam after a Trinamool Congress (TMC) delegation was prevented by the district administration from going out of the airport and interacting with the people.
The delegation including six members of parliament and two MLAs were confined to a room at the airport on the ground that Section 144 CrPC was in force in the entire Cachar district.
“We were supposed to interact with some people in Silchar. However, when we landed, the district administration and police officials stopped us from getting out of the airport and later were confined to a room,” said a TMC member who was a part of the delegation.
The Assam Police have beefed up security arrangements in the Barak Valley districts, particularly in Silchar town, in the light of the TMC delegation’s visit yesterday.
The TMC delegation told the administration that they would go out in four groups of two persons each, which will not violate Section 144 CrPC, but the district administration officials refused.
Some of the members of the TMC team including some women received injuries as the stand off between the delegation and the police led to a scuffle inside the airport.
The Assam government published the draft National Register of Citizens (NRC) on July 30 which included the names of 28.9 million people but kept over four million people out of the document due to some discrepancies.
Mamata critical
The TMC, particularly West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, have been very critical about the NRC updating process in Assam and accused the BJP-led governments in Delhi and Dispur of hatching a conspiracy to drive out Bengalis and Muslims from Assam.
Banerjee also stated that the NRC will lead to a civil war in Assam and appealed to the government to stop it immediately.
Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal has warned against making provocative statements against the NRC and said that outsiders making provocative statements about the NRC will not be accepted.
Sonowal said that the people of Assam have shown tremendous political maturity which has made the publication of the complete draft NRC possible.
Meanwhile, the West Bengal BJP took out a march in Kolkata yesterday to demand the publication of a National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Bengal also to drive out “infiltrators from Bangladesh” from the eastern state.
The march from south Kolkata’s Deshapriyo Park to Maidan area was led by state Bharatiya Janata Party President Dilip Ghosh, National Secretary Rahul Sinha, and state General Secretary Sayantan Basu.
“We demand the publication of the NRC in West Bengal as well. Infiltration from Bangladesh is rampant here. These infiltrators are involved in all sorts of illegal activities like bombmaking, smuggling, rioting and running syndicates. They must be deported to Bangladesh,” state BJP women’s wing president Locket Chatterjee said while addressing party workers.
Accusing Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee of letting the Rohingya refugees (from Bangladesh) settle in certain Bengal districts, the BJP leader claimed that the “National Registration of Citizens is a must” in the state to check infiltration and conduct fair elections.
Rohingyas
“... Banerjee is allowing even the Rohingyas to settle in the state. She has too much compassion for illegal settlers from Bangladesh. She should first give peace to her own people,” she said.
Ghosh also flayed Banerjee, claiming she was politicising the NRC issue in Assam, deliberately trying to malign the BJP and provoke the Bengalis by spreading falsehood.
“The NRC draft has been published in Assam on Supreme Court orders and has left out more than four million people. If the process has some shortcomings, the state government and the court will look into it. But the way they (Trinamool) are politicising the issue and trying to provoke the Bengalis, both in Bengal and Assam, is condemnable,” Ghosh said.
“Banerjee and her Trinamool Congress are trying to malign the BJP, but our party has no role in the publication of the NRC draft,” he added.
The NRC draft has been published in Assam on Supreme Court orders and has left out 400,000 persons. If the process has some shortcomings, the state government and the court will look into it.” Dilip Ghosh | President of the West Bengal unit of BJP