West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee Dares Centre to Start NRC Exercise in Bengal

Bengal has protested against the situation in Assam and will continue to do so

New Delhi: In yet another offensive against the PM Narendra Modi led government over the National Register of Citizens (NRC), West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday dared the central government to launch a similar exercise in Bengal.

"They (Bharatiya Janata Party) are trying to wrongfully evict many people from Assam. Some are even threatening to evict people from Bengal through a similar exercise here. I dare them to lay a finger on us. They will understand what Bengal is made of," Banerjee said at a rally held in Kolkata to commemorate the foundation day of the Trinamool Chhatra Parishad, the student's wing of the Trinamool Congress.

"Bengal has protested against the situation in Assam and will continue to do so. We all are Indian citizens. If they try to drive out even a single Indian citizen, we will not spare them," she said.

The Trinamool Congress supremo claimed that those asking for birth details of three generations of others' families should submit their own family records first.

"They say they will start the exercise (National Register of Citizens) in Bengal. I want to see who dares to do that. We are Bengal tigers. It will not be so easy. Before you start anything here, remember that your days will be finished in 2019. The BJP will be finished in 2019," she claimed.

Banerjee has been attacking the BJP government at the Centre over National Register for Citizens (NRC) which has excluded names of over 40 lakh citizens in the final draft for want of necessary documents in Assam.

Days ago, Mamata had accused the BJP government or resorting to dive and rule" politics and had even warned that the Assam NRC issue could lead to bloodbath" and civil war" across the country.

The second NRC draft list was released on July 30 that included the names of 2.89 crore people out of 3.29 crore applicants in Assam. However, nearly four million people were missing from the list, which triggered panic among those excluded.

Clarifying on the same, the Centre had assured that no Indian citizen would be left out, and those excluded would be given all possible opportunities to get their concerns addressed, as per the due process.

(With agency inputs)