Expressing concern over the exclusion of 40 lakh names in the final draft of NRC in Assam, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee slammed the Centre for turning โIndian citizens into refugeesโ.
โThey are turning Indian people into refugees in their own country,โ Banerjee said at a press meet in Kolkata.
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She said her government will consider providing shelter on humanitarian grounds to people who enter West Bengal from Assam.
She said she would try to meet Home Minister Rajnath Singh on the subject. โI am sending a team of party MPs to Assam and if necessary, I will go there too,โ she said.
โMany people have been identified as foreigners and they are to be sent back. There are many children and women among themโฆ So many Bengalis, Biharis, Hindus, Muslimsโฆ they are very much Indians,โ said Banerjee, adding that she was โworried about tortureโ of those left out.
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โIt is a game plan to evict humanity and human beings forcibly and an attempt to isolate them in order to do vote politics. We do not believe in divide and rule policy,โ NDTV quoted Banerjee as saying.
โSuch a huge step is being taken. Shouldnโt the government have conversation with Bengal?โ Banerjee said.
โEvery state has people staying from other states, like Gujarat and Maharashtra.โ
Banerjeeโs Trinamool Congress, the Congress, CPM and Samajwadi party protested in parliament, saying the list puts โhuman rights and democratic rightsโ of people at stake.
In Rajya Sabha, TMC member Derek OโBrien pressed for a discussion on the exclusions from the NRC draft, calling it a โhumanitarian issue, a human rights issueโ.
โSome people are unnecessarily trying to create an atmosphere of fearโฆ This is a draft and not the final list,โ Home Minister Rajnath Singh said.
Urging parties not to โcreate panicโ, the Home Minister said, โIt is a sensitive issue and should not be politicised unnecessarily.โ