A exercise to update the National Register of Citizens (NRC) will be conducted in West Bengal if the BJP comes to power in the State, party general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya said here on Saturday.
“The NRC will definitely be conducted in Bengal if the BJP comes to power here as it is also facing severe infiltration issues,” Mr. Vijayvargiya told presspersons at the BJP State headquarters. He said the exercise was required not only in West Bengal but also in all metro cities in the country.
‘Backing infiltrators’
He criticised West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for opposing the NRC update in Assam, and accused her of “siding with infiltrators” for the sake of votes.
“I want to ask Mamata Banerjee why she is siding with infiltrators. Unfortunately some people are more concerned about indulging in appeasement policies and vote bank politics than the progress of the nation. The prime example of such mentality is Ms. Banerjee,” Mr. Vijayvargiya said.
He accused the Chief Minister of double standards on the infiltration issue. As an MP, she flung papers at the Speaker’s podium after an adjournment motion over Bangladeshi infiltration into West Bengal was rejected in the Lok Sabha on August 5, 2005.
“What happened in the past 13 years that you [Ms. Banerjee] have made a u-turn and is siding with the infiltrators,” he asked.
BJP State president Dilip Ghosh told The Hindu that an NRC exercise was “necessary” in West Bengal as more than one crore infiltrators resided in the State. “Earlier the Communist Party of India(Marxist) used the infiltrators [for political mileage] and now Mamata Banerjee is using them,” he said.
TMC protests
The Trinamool Congress organised a State-wide protest against the detention and alleged assault of a delegation of party MPs and MLAs at the Silchar airport by the Assam police. Senior party leaders led marches against the Centre. Minister Subrata Mukherjee said the protests would continue on Sunday.
