Amit Shah vows NRC will be implemented in Bengal

Kolkata: Union home minister Amit Shah asserted on Tuesday that the Centre will implement the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in West Bengal, and infiltrators will be removed from “every inch of India” and thrown out.

“No matter how much the Trinamool Congress opposes it, the BJP will get it done,” he said, but added that the Narendra Modi government will pass the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill before implementing NRC.

Addressing Janajagaran Sabha on the controversial NRC at the Netaji Indoor Stadium here, Mr Shah blamed West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee for “misleading” people by “lying” about NRC.

“People of Bengal are being misled about the NRC... I assure all Hindu, Buddhist, Sikh, Jain refugees, they won’t have to leave the country, they will get Indian citizenship and enjoy all the rights of an Indian national,” he said. The NRC is currently restricted to Assam, but the BJP has been talking of implementing it across the country.

Reminding the Trinamul Congress supremo of her demand in the Parliament to throw out infiltrators from the country when she was an MP, the BJP president said that she has backtracked on that demand because they have now become her votebank.

“Didi used to oppose these same people when they voted for Communists. Now that they are voting for her, she wants to keep them,” he said. He also pointed out that the BJP’s victory in 18 out of 42 Lok Sabha seats reflects the people’s desire for a change in the government.

“The people of Bengal are being misled on NRC. I want to clarify the BJP’s policy and tell them the truth. Mamata di is claiming that lakhs of Hindu refugees would have to leave the state if the NRC is enforced. Nothing can be a bigger lie and falsehood than this. I want to assure the people of Bengal that all the Hindu, Boudh, Sikh, Jain Christian refugees, specially the Hindu refugees because their number is the biggest of the all, will not be forced by the Indian government to leave this country… Didi is saying she won’t let NRC happen, I want to promise you we won’t let a single infiltrator stay. Not one refugee will have to go, not one infiltrator will be able to stay, this is the BJP’s promise,” he said.

“The BJP government at the Centre will bring the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill which will give the citizenship status to all the Hindu, Boudh, Sikh, Jain Christian refugees. Once it is done, they will have the same rights I have on my motherland. The BJP government will give the right to each refugee to become the Prime Minister of India and exercise voting rights,” he added.

Hitting back at Mr Shah, Ms Banerjee cautioned him to not to play “divisive politics” in West Bengal.

Without taking Mr Shah’s name, Ms Banerjee said, “All are welcome to our state to watch the Puja and enjoy the festival and our hospitality. There will be no dearth of hospitality by us. But please do not come to profess divisive politics in the name of religion and break the unity. Do not try to create rift among people. It will not work here. The soil of Bengal is purer than gold.”

Muslims constitute 27 per cent of West Bengal’s total population. Next Assembly elections in the state are due in 2021.

Mr Shah observed, “Some people shed crocodiles’ tears. The Trinamul MPs did not allow the Parliament to run when we brought the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, leading to its return. But now the situation has changed. The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill will be passed defying the Trinamul’s opposition.”