New Delhi: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee met Union Home Minister Amit Shah here Thursday and raised the issue of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam.
After meeting Amit Shah at his North Block office, the Trinamool Congress chief said many genuine Indians were excluded from the NRC in Assam and she has requested the Home Minister to examine their cases. Many of those excluded are Bengali and Hindi-speaking people and some of them are Gorkhas and even Assamese.
“I have not come to discuss about the NRC in West Bengal, I have come to discuss about the NRC in Assam,” Mamata Banerjee told reporters after the meeting.
It should be stated here that Mamata Banerjee had met Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Wednesday. However, she had not raised the issue of NRC then.
“I handed over a letter to him (Amit Shah), told him that of the 19 lakh people left out of NRC, many are Hindi speaking, Bengali speaking and local Assamese. Many genuine voters have been left out. This should be looked into. I submitted an official letter,” Mamata Banerjee was quoted as saying by a news agency.
The implementation of the citizens’ list in Assam – which left out 19 lakh people – has been widely criticised because of the omissions. Even a section of Assam unit of the saffron party has been critical of the list. They have said that a large number of Bengali Hindus have been left out in the list published. According to them, these Hindus are core voters of the BJP.
Agencies