Amend NRC bill or bring new one: Mamata Banerjee to Rajnath Singh

On Tuesday, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee met Rajnath Singh in Delhi and asked him to ‘amend the NRC bill’.

She said: “I asked him to amend NRC Bill or bring new bill. He has assured me they (govt) will not harass people. I also spoke to him about reports of NRC being implemented in Bengal, I told him that if such a thing happens there can be a civil war.”

 She earlier alleged that the National Registrar of Citizens (NRC) exercise in Assam was done with a "political motive" to divide people and warned that it would lead to bloodbath and a civil war in the country.

Attacking the BJP, she said the saffron party is trying to divide the country and asserted this will not be tolerated.

"The NRC is being done with a political motive. We will not let this happen. They (BJP) are trying to divide the people. The situation cannot be tolerated. There will be a civil war, blood bath in the country," Banerjee told a conclave here.

She said that even the names of family members of former president Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed have not been included in the NRC. 

The Trinamool Congress also dared the BJP to try implementing NRC in West Bengal and said it can never come to power in the state.

"The BJP has the audacity to say that they would implement NRC in Bengal and thinks only they and their supporters would stay in India and rest will have to leave the country," she said. 

Asserting that the present situation cannot go on, Banerjee said she would continue voicing her opposition against the ruling party. 

She appealed to the all communities to build up a momentum against the decision of the government.

"No one can give us direction. This is not the politics of India. Indian politics is about tolerance," she said.

The massive Supreme Court-monitored exercise to identify genuine Indian nationals living in Assam excluded over 40 lakh people from the final draft list.

The issue rocked both house of Parliament after which Home Minister Rajnath Singh appealed to the opposition not to politicise the "sensitive" matter as the list has been published on the directives of the Supreme Court and the Centre has "no role" in it. 

He asserted that no "coercive" action will be taken against those whose names were excluded from the NRC draft list.