West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee targeted the BJP-led government at the Centre over the contentious draft National Register of Citizens (NRC) which has left 40 lakh residents of Assam in a state of confusion over their citizenship.
In a series of tweets, the Trinamool Congress (TMC) chief, who has been vociferously protesting against the NRC, accused the BJP and its ideological parent Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) for “spreading misleading statements against the Supreme Court” over the NRC.
She also claimed that many of the names left out are of Indian citizens from across the country including south India.
“It is unfortunate that the BJP-RSS are making and spreading misleading statements against the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court never asked to delete names of #Indian citizens from the #NRC list,” wrote Banerjee.
“The list of #Indian citizens left out comprise Bengalis, Assamese, Rajasthanis, Marwaris, Biharis, Gorkhas, UPites, Punjabis and citizens from the 4 southern States,” said the TMC supremo who is trying to stitch together an alliance of anti-BJP parties ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
“That is not all. Brave soldiers, ex-Rashtrapati-Ji’s families, elected representatives, prominent members of civil society, the poor and deprived find their names missing,” she said, adding, “There are many instances too of splitting families being put in panic because of serious anomalies.”
Banerjee raised questions on democracy and secularism and called the NRC an act of “deliberate destructiveness and political vendetta” of the BJP-RSS.
“Where is democracy? Where is secularism? Why are the core values of our country being destroyed? Why have 200 companies of central forces been sent to Assam? Every single action of the BJP-RSS is one of deliberate destructiveness and political vendetta,” she said.
It is unfortunate that the BJP-RSS are making and spreading misleading statements against the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court never asked to delete names of #Indian citizens from the #NRC list. 1/4
— Mamata Banerjee (@MamataOfficial) August 5, 2018
The list of #Indian citizens left out comprise Bengalis,Assamese,Rajasthanis, Marwaris,Biharis,Gorkhas,UPites,Punjabis and citizens from the 4 southern States. That is not all. 2/4
— Mamata Banerjee (@MamataOfficial) August 5, 2018
Brave soldiers,ex-Rashtrapati-Ji’s families,elected representatives,prominent members of civil society,the poor and deprived find their names missing.There are many instances too of splitting families being put in panic because of serious anomalies. 3/4
— Mamata Banerjee (@MamataOfficial) August 5, 2018
Where is democracy? Where is secularism? Why are the core values of our country being destroyed ? Why have 200 companies of central forces been sent to Assam ? Every single action of the BJP-RSS is one of deliberate destructiveness and political vendetta. 4/4
— Mamata Banerjee (@MamataOfficial) August 5, 2018
The series of tweets followed a tweet posted a few hours ago in which Banerjee expressed who according to her party can be called “friends”.
“All our friends are our neighbours. All our neighbours are our friends. Not just for a day, but for every day of the year,” read the tweet posted in the afternoon, coinciding with Friendship Day.
All our friends are our neighbours.
All our neighbours are our friends.
Not just for a day, but for every day of the year.— Mamata Banerjee (@MamataOfficial) August 5, 2018
Earlier on Wednesday, Banerjee said that the NRC will drive a wedge between India’s ties with Bangladesh.
“The NRC will destroy relationship between India and Bangladesh. Out of 40 lakh people whose names are not in the list of NRC, only 1 per cent could be illegal infiltrators. But the BJP is trying to show that all those not included (in NRC) are infiltrators,” Banerjee told reporters in New Delhi during her three-day visit to bolster opposition unity against the BJP.
“Bangladesh is not a terrorist country. After Independence, many people from Pakistan came to Gujarat, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab. From Bangladesh too, people came to Tripura, West Bengal, Bihar and many other states. They are not infiltrators or terrorists. Is it a crime that Bangladesh and we (West Bengal) share the same mother tongue? They (the BJP-led Centre) think, anybody who speaks Bangla is a Bangladeshi,” the Bengal CM said.
She alleged that the BJP was playing “vote bank politics” on the NRC issue.
“Whoever is a BJP voter will be in the list. Those who are not will be deleted from the list. Will you drive out everyone in the name of Bangladeshis?” she asked.
Read More: NRC row will destroy ties with Bangladesh, warns Mamata Banerjee
The BJP, meanwhile, accused Banerjee of taking a U-turn on the infiltration issue.
Kailash Vijayvargiya, BJP’s central observer for Assam said on Saturday that Banerjee’s present belligerence is in sharp contrast with her outburst in the Parliament on 5 August 2005, when she threw papers at the then deputy Speaker for not being allowed to speak on infiltration and was almost in tears.
While Banerjee has been vocal about her opposition to the NRC, the chief of her party’s Assam wing and two other TMC leaders from the state resigned on 2 August in protest of the party supremo’s stand.
Assam TMC president Dwipen Pathak’s resignation came within hours of a TMC delegation arriving at the Silchar airport in the Bengali-dominated Barak valley at Banerjee’s instructions and being stopped from exiting it by the police.
Read More: Mamata loses her Assam chief over stand on NRC
Diganta Saikia, a TMC leader from Golaghat and who was among the three to resign, even threatened to file a case against Banerjee for taking an anti-Assamese stand.