Mamata: Will not allow NRC implementation
She said she will ‘never tolerate division’ on the basis of religion
New Delhi: Trinamool Congress head and West Bengal Chief Minister (CM) Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday said her government would not allow implementation of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in her state.
She said she will “never tolerate division” on the basis of religion in West Bengal.
“No one can take anyone’s citizenship away in Bengal. There are few people who are trying to create disturbance in the state in the name of implementation of NRC. I want to make it very clear, we will never allow NRC in West Bengal,” Banerjee said in state capital Kolkata.
The Opposition Congress party has so far not expressed a clear stand on NRC and Citizenship Amendment Bill. A delegation of senior Congress leaders met party’s interim president Sonia Gandhi and submitted a ground report on the two issues.
“There is a consensus among the people of Northeastern states across all religions and castes that Citizenship Amendment Bill should not be passed which is already in the government’s agenda for this winter session,” Congress leader Manickam Tagore told media.
Separately, a delegation of Congress legislators from Manipur, headed by veteran leader Ibobi Singh, also met Gandhi on Tuesday evening.
Singh said that he feared Manipur becoming a dumping ground of foreigners.
“We have expressed our views to Congress chief Sonia Gandhi on NRC and Citizenship Amendment Bill. Once Citizenship Amendment Bill is passed, our apprehension is that those people who are not indigenous people, who are staying in Bangladesh, Pakistan or Afghanistan will start to enter Manipur because Manipur is the extreme northeastern border adjoining Myanmar,” he added.