Even as an FIR has been filed against West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in Assam, she remained unfazed and lambasted the BJP over the National Register of Citizens (NRC) issue. Mamata asserted that she would be ready to accept the people who would be booted out of Assam.
Calling the NRC an anti-Bengali policy, Mamata said, “This is part of BJP’s policy against Bengali. Innocent people will be driven out of Assam. They will not be homeless and can come to our state. We will arrange food and shelter for them.”
Mamata was in North Bengal on Tuesday which bore the burnt of migration from Assam in 60's and 80's. It was then termed as “Bengal kheda movement (Remove Bengalis movement)”.
Mamata's rally in North Bengal’s Jalpaiguri on Tuesday comes months before the Panchyat election.
The chief minister said she has asked her MPs to launch a stir in parliament in the upcoming budget session as well.
Meanwhile, Assam government said that the enrollment in NRC was still going on.
An official of Assam Chief Minister Sorbananda Sonowal said, “The tribunal is still working on thousands of cases. More lists will come up in future.”
Even as the Assam government prepares the second and third list, the Supreme Court recently has clearly refused to extend the deadline of the NRC.
In an exclusive interview with THE WEEK three months ago, Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonwal had said that religious minorities, who had come to Assam from Bangladesh, would be given the refugee status as stated by the central government.
“Those who had come to our land because of being religious minorities, the central government would give them shelter here. But others would have to go back to Bangladesh,” Sonowal told THE WEEK in October.
Out of the total 3.3 crore people in the state, only 1.9 crore people were figured in the first list. Majority of the areas in upper Assam like Silchar in Barrack Valley are mostly inhabited by the Hindu Bengalis.
All Assam Students Union (AASU) leader Somujjal Bhattcharjee, one of the brain behind the movement against illegal migrant, ridiculed the stand taken by the political parties in West Bengal, particularly Trinamool Congress.
“When I was talking to parliamentary committee members in Delhi, which consists of CPI(M) and Trinamool Congress, all supported our cause. But now they are singing a different tune. Also, I think it will be too early to draw the conclusion. Let the work gets complete,” Bhattacharya said.
Bhattacharya said that the NRC was long-overdue for the people of Assam.
“Crores of people have come from Bangladesh and are enjoying the natural resources of Assam. We cannot accept that,” said he.
