West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee appears to be in no mood to take the Assam National Register of Citizens (NRC) draft lying down as she will be meeting Home Minister Rajnath Singh in New Delhi today to discuss the issue. Mamata's Trinamool Congress has also decided to send an eight-member delegation to Assam later this week to assess the situation in the north-eastern state in the wake of the publication of the final draft of the NRC. Nearly 40 lakh people were declared 'outsiders' in the NRC draft released on Monday.
"On August 2 and 3, a delegation comprising six MPs of the Trinamool Congress (Sukhendu Sekhar Ray, Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar, Ratna De Nag, Nadimul Haque, Arpita Ghosh, Mamata Thakur), MLA Mohua Moitra and West Bengal minister Firhad Hakim will be visiting Assam," the TMC said in a statement.
Mamata Banerjee had earlier accused the BJP-led central government of resorting to "vote-bank politics" with regard to the NRC. "Indian citizens have become refugees" in their own land, she said.
"There were people who have Aaadhar cards and passports but still their names are not in the draft list. Names of people were removed on the basis of surnames also. Is the Govt trying to do forceful eviction?: West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee said during a press conference in Kolkata.
"People are being isolated through a game plan. We are worried because people are being made refugees in their own country. It's a plan to throw out Bengali speaking people and Biharis. Consequences will be felt in our state also," Mamata said.
Amid tight security, the much-awaited NRC final draft was published in Assam on Monday with over 2.89 crore names of the 3.29 crore applicants.
