West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee today called for the formation of a powerful movement against the National Register for Citizens (NRC) in Bengal, that she hopes will show the country a path ahead against the BJP-led government at the Centre in the coming days.
“The country is going through a terrible phase – the price of vegetables and onions is doing up, there is no growth and the finance minister is shirking her responsibility saying she does not eat onions,” Banerjee said. There is constant attempt to take the attention away from the main issues, she said.
She reiterated that the NRC won’t be allowed to be implemented in West Bengal. “Thirty people have died in Bengal from fear that NRC will be implemented,” she said. She added that the ruling party at the Centre had said that the names of Hindus won’t be deleted from the NRC, but over 14 lakh Hindus have now found that their names are not in the list. Since a political party is in power on the basis of religion, it does not mean they can impose any rule on the basis of religion, she said. She said neither the NRC nor the Citizenship Amendment bill is acceptable.
“People from the Northeast won’t accept NRC, and they will respond suitably,” she said. She said that the Constitution does not allow division along religious lines, and a country where such divisions are being made cannot progress. She said that if NRC is implemented, then the name of the chief minister of the state will be deleted first.
She called for people to come together to start awareness campaigns for people to know about the issue and to oppose the imposition of the NRC. “We will form a powerful movement in West Bengal, and give our support to others elsewhere in the country. We will show the way ahead for the future,” she said.
