LOOKEAST

LOOKEAST REPORT |

WEST Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee assured people that she will never allow NRC in the state even as Union home minister Amit Shah on Wednesday said a citizen’s list on the lines of the exercise in Assam will be carried out across the country.

The TMC supremo sought answers from the BJP over exclusion of 14 lakh Hindus and Bengalis from the final NRC list in Assam.

Its not often that I agree with @AmitShah but I want NRC in India .NRC should not be based on ethnicity,religion or community and India should also have a National Refugee policy which will ensure the difference between genuine asylum seekers than those who infiltrate our land

— Pradyot_Tripura (@PradyotManikya) November 20, 2019

“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 Bengal.

“No one can take away your citizenship and turn you into a refugee. There can be no division on the basis of religion,” Banerjee said while addressing an election rally in Sagardighi in Murshidabad.

Before talking about implementing NRC in West Bengal, the BJP should answer why 14 lakhs Hindus and Bengalis were omitted from the final NRC list in Assam, she said.

The proposed implementation of the citizen’s list or the National Register of Citizens in Bengal has created panic claiming 11 lives in Bengal alone following the omission of about 19.6 lakh names from the final NRC list in Assam.

Replace and update digital ration cards, which was originally scheduled from September 9 to 27, will again commence from November 5 to November 30 “to help each and every citizen of the state

Banerjee said that the state government’s programme to issue, replace and update digital ration cards, which was originally scheduled from September 9 to 27, will again commence from November 5 to November 30 “to help each and every citizen of the state.”

The announcement comes at a time when large queues are seen outside the offices of BDOs and borough offices in different parts of Bengal, besides at the civic body offices in the city to procure requisite documents. There are apprehensions among a large section of the people that NRC will be carried out in the state in future.

Banerjee said the state government will start the process of updating digital ration cards again after the festive season and there will be new ration cards in two colours.

There will be one set of digital ration cards for people who want to keep it for identity proof, while the second set of cards in a different colour will be for those who want to avail subsidised food items and also for identity proof, she said. ■