Ruling BJP and other outfits in Assam attacked West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for alleging the BJP-led Centre was "hatching a conspiracy" to drive out Bengalis from Assam
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee interacts with a beneficiary uring inauguration of various projects & helping aids at Ahamadpur in Birbhum district on Wednesday. Pic/PTI
Ruling BJP and other outfits in Assam attacked West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for alleging the BJP-led Centre was "hatching a conspiracy" to drive out Bengalis from Assam by "excluding" their names from the first draft of the National Register of Citizens (NRC). They asked her to refrain from indulging in "divisive communal politics". "Banerjee's accusation is highly condemnable. We warn her to refrain from making such divisive communal statements so that unrest is not created in Assam. People of all languages have been living in harmony in Assam for ages," Assam BJP president Ranjit Das told reporters.
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He also appealed to "my 27 lakh BJP workers to keep a strict vigil so that the Trinamool Congress activists cannot create trouble in Assam". Banerjee's speech and spotting of the Trinamool Congress banners around Guwahati are signs that they have launched a conspiracy to spread unrest in the state, he claimed.
He said that irrespective diverse languages, including Bengali, people in Assam are not moved by "such divisive speeches. Earlier in the day, Banerjee accused the BJP-led central government of "hatching a conspiracy" to drive out Bengalis from Assam by "excluding" their names from the first draft of the NRC. "This is a conspiracy of the central government to drive out around 1.80 crore people from the state," she alleged. Assam Public Works president Abhijit Sarma, who had filed a PIL in the Supreme Court for updation of the NRC said, her statement is contempt of the court as the NRC is being updated on the orders of the Supreme Court.
"The Assam and the central government's first responsibility would be to tomorrow file a contempt of court application in the apex court with all evidences," he said. "There is no option but to arrest Mamata Banerjee and such leaders under the NSA as else they will spread this communal unrest across India." "In the absence of an Indo-Bangladesh treaty for the neighbouring country to take back their illegal detected citizens from our country, we request Mamata Banerjee to take her claimed 1.80 illegal migrants to West Bengal," he said.
Dipanka Nath, president of the All Assam Students Union (AASU) also cricised Banerjee's assertion. "People of all religions, languages, ethnicities have been living together peacefully here. Names of all people living here before 1971 will be included in the NRC as per the Assam Accord (1985)," he said.
Sadou Asom Bangali Parishad president Santanu Sanyal claimed, "Mamata Banerjee has insulted the Supreme Court as the NRC process has been ordered by and being monitored closely by the Supreme Court." The NRC of 1951 is being updated in Assam under the supervision of the Supreme Court to identify original residents of the state in order to check illegal migration. Its first draft was published on 31 December midnight.
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