New Delhi: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday warned that exclusion of 4 million people from National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam could lead to “bloodbath” and a “civil war” in the country, which was strongly denounced by BJP president Amit Shah. She also accused the Modi government of trying to make millions of people “stateless” in Assam for political gains.
The attack on the government by Ms Banerjee and several Opposition parties came, a day after names of over 4 million people in Assam were excluded from the draft NRC list, prepared following a long-drawn process to identify illegal Bangladeshis living in the state. “The NRC is being done with a political motive. We will not let this happen. They (BJP) are trying to divide the people. The situation cannot be tolerated. There will be a civil war, blood bath in the country,” Ms Banerjee told a conclave here.
She said that even the names of family members of former president Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed have not been included in the NRC. The Trinamul also dared the BJP to try implementing NRC in West Bengal and said it can never come to power in the state.= “The BJP has the audacity to say that they would implement NRC in Bengal and thinks only they and their supporters would stay in India and rest will have to leave the country,” she said.
Asserting that the present situation cannot go on, Ms Banerjee said she would continue voicing her opposition against the ruling party. She appealed to the all communities to build up a momentum against the decision of the government. “No one can give us direction. This is not the politics of India. Indian politics is about tolerance,” she said.
The issue rocked Parliament as well. Separately, a number of political parities held a protest outside Parliament, accusing the BJP of trying to divide the society and making Indian citizens become refugees in their own country. Joining the row, BSP president Mayawati condemned the exclusion of over 40 lakh people and demanded an all-party meeting on it.
“By depriving 40 lakh people from religious and linguistic minorities living there for years of their citizenship, the BJP governments both at the Centre and in Assam have achieved the target of their narrow and divisive politics,” she said in a press release. Ms Mayawati said it would be very difficult to contain the frenzy caused by the publication of the draft NRC, adding the all-party meeting was needed to work out remedial measures.
