Kolkata: Union Home Minister Amit Shah asserted here Tuesday the Centre will extend the National Register of Citizens (NRC) to West Bengal but before that the Citizenship (amendment) Bill will be passed to accord Indian citizenship to all Hindu, Sikh, Jain and Buddhist refugees.
Addressing a seminar on the controversial subject of NRC, which has hitherto been restricted to Assam, the Home Minister said West Bengal’s ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) was misleading people about the citizenship roll.
“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,” Amit Shah said.
Shah, however, asserted that all infiltrators will be thrown out of the country. “NRC will be implemented in West Bengal, make no mistake about it,” Shah stated. “At one point of time Mamata didi (Banerjee) herself talked about getting rid of infiltrators. Today she is opposing NRC to keep her party’s vote bank intack,” Amit Shah stated.
“No country can continuously carry the burden of millions of infiltrators. Hence we have to get rid of them. Development in West Bengal is impossible without NRC which will help us identify the infiltrators,” Shah added.
The BJP president also hailed Prime Minister Narendra Modi for scrapping provisions of Article 370 that accorded special status to Jammu and Kashmir. Shah said it will facilitate complete integration of the state into India.
Referring to Shyama Prasad Mookerjee, the founder of Janasangh, the BJP’s precursor, Shah said it was due to the sacrifices of the leader that West Bengal is today a part of the Indian republic.
Amit Shah however, stated that he won’t talk about the Saradha, Rose Valley and various other scams which have affected millions of West Bengal. “No, I would rather talk about the Ayushman Bharat programme. It has been successfully implement in various states of India. However, because of Mamata didi (West Bengal Chief Minister), the programme has not taken off in West Bengal. More than 5,00,000 people are being deprived of medical facilities. Mamata ji has not allowed Ayushman Bharat in West Bengal as Prime Minister Narendra Modi will gain popularity,” Shah told the gathering.
PTI