West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee yesterday met Home Minister Amit Shah in his North Block chambers and raised concerns over the National Register of Citizenship (NRC) that aims to identify genuine Indian citizens.
On being asked whether the issue of NRC in West Bengal was part of the discussion, Banerjee said, “He (Shah) did not say anything about the NRC in West Bengal. I have already clarified my stand that the NRC is not needed in West Bengal,” the chief minister said while speaking to the media here. “I handed over a letter to him (Shah). I told him that of the 1.9mn people left out of NRC (in Assam), many are Hindi-speaking, Bengali-speaking and local Assamese.
“Many genuine voters have been left out. This should be looked into. I submitted an official letter,” she stressed.
Mamata’s Trinamoo Congress party has been extremely vocal against the NRC and has even taken to the streets against it. The state unit of the BJP though has demanded NRC in Bengal after the final list in Assam was out.
West Bengal BJP president Dilip Ghosh had said if the party comes to power after the 2021 Assembly polls, it will pitch for NRC in the state.
Mamata’s party though called it a “divisive” thing. TMC secretary-general Partha Chatterjee said, “Our party workers have vowed not to allow NRC in Bengal”.
The National Register of Citizens (NRC) is a register maintained by the government of India containing names and certain relevant information for identification of all genuine Indian citizens.
In Assam’s final document of the NRC, over 1.9mn didn’t find their names mentioned.
The meeting with Shah took place a day after Mamata met Prime Minister Modi.
Mamata also raised the issue of West Bengal’s name-change to “Bangla” with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Shah.
The TMC has been trying to change the state name primarily to get early central assistance. Due to its position in the alphabetical order, West Bengal’s turn comes right at the end.
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee
