Kolkata: Upping the ante against the National Register of Citizens in West Bengal, TMC chief Mamata Banerjee has asked her party members to hold mega protest across the state on November 11 saying that asserted that the TMC does not support discrimination on the basis of caste, creed or religion.
Without naming the BJP, Banerjee pointed out that some people are saying those who have taken shelter in the country from Bangladesh will be given citizenship after amending the Citizenship Amendment Bill.
"It must be remembered that those who came over from East Bengal (currently Bangladesh) as refugees are citizens of our country," the West Bengal chief minister said recalling accords between former heads of the two countries.
She asked how many times one has to prove his or her citizenship and how many identity cards they would have to get.
Addressing a press conference after the working committee meeting of the party, Banerjee said, “We are opposed Centre’s decision to implement NRC. Why do we need to prove that we are Indians?”
The BJP and the TMC are at loggerheads over the NRC issue in Bengal with the TMC leaders claiming that the BJP is creating panic over NRC.
BJP chief Amit Shah had last month asked state party workers to start making people aware of the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill to dampen this campaign of the TMC.
The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill provides for according Indian citizenship to Hindus, Jains, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists and Parsis from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan after six years of residence in India instead of 12 years currently even if they do not possess any document.
The TMC has been opposing the NRC claiming it is only a tool for harassment and discrimination among the people, while the BJP says Banerjee is against the exercise
because of vote bank politics.
Shah had recently said that Modi government would implement the NRC all over the country and would “throw out infiltrators” from across India before 2024 general elections.
Comments
0 comment