Bengal Assembly passes resolution against Assam NRC

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Baenrjee. Pic/Twitter IANS

On Friday, the West Bengal Assembly passed a resolution opposing the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam and ruled out of carrying any such exercise in Bengal. The Resolution tabled under Rule 185 of Rules of Procedures of Conduct of Business of the House got the backing of members ruling Trinamool Congress and opposition Left Front and the Congress. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was the only party that opposed the resolution that sailed through after a three-hour debate in the West Bengal assembly, reports news agency IANS.

The final NRC list was published on August 31 in Assam. According to sources, over 19 lakh people were excluded from the final published NRC list. West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee, who also participated in the debate said that the NRC has no acceptance in her state. "We do not accept the NRC. This exercise will never take place in Bengal," Mamata said.

The West Bengal CM also said that she spoke with Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on the NRC issue and he too has opposed any such exercise in his state. She also stated that the NRC was a fallout of the Assam Accord of 1985, but there was no such agreement in Bengal.

Mamata Banerjee also gave reference to the detention centres which were being constructed in Assam. On the same, she said, "They are coming up with a grand jail to house those excluded from the NRC final list". The West Bengal Assembly passed a resolution which termed the exercise as inhuman and autocratic.

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The lawmakers of the state who supported the resolution called the NRC to exercise an "anti-Bengali" and that it had a political motive by the Bharatiya Janata Party. Trinamool legislators from bordering districts of Cooch Behar and Alipurduar complained that girls from the district married into Assam have been left out of the list, reports news agency IANS.

Sujan Chakraborty, Left Front Legislature Party leader said that the NRC was an attack on the poor people who did not possess the documents. On the other hand, All India Forward Bloc MLA Ali Imran Ramz termed the resolution historic and a proof that "Bengal is secular and will remain secular".

BJP leader Manoj Tigga, who opposed the motion said that Mamata Banerjee had raised the issue of "infiltration" from Bangladesh into Bengal as an opposition leader in 2005 in Lok Sabha and she had stormed out Speaker Somanth Chatterjee did not allow debate.

The BJP leader said that there was a need for NRC in Bengal.

Also Read: Mamata Banerjee dares Centre to start NRC exercise in West Bengal

With inputs from IANS

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