Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee launched a fresh salvo at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah on the National Register of Citizens (NRC) issue on Tuesday.
Speaking at the state secretariat – Nabanna – after meeting a delegation from United Bengali Forum who had come from Assam to highlight their plight, Mamata asked Shah whether his parents had birth certificates. “I want to ask Amit Shah does his mother and father have birth certificates? If you ask me, I do not have my parent’s birth certificates. Would Swami Vivekananda have the certificates?Atal ji is ill now, so I cannot ask him, but I wish I could ask him whether he has all the certificates? One family can keep the record, not all. I belonged to a backward family, certificates were not maintained,” Mamata said. “Would Gandhiji’s family have certificates?”
Banerjee went on to call NRC politically motivated. “This is a political move ahead of the elections. Sometimes they will play India-Pakistan, sometimes they will play India-China. I am also hearing that they are getting the currency notes printed outside the country,” she alleged.
This is not the first time that the West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo has launched a blistering attack at the BJP and party president Amit Shah. This time too, she alleged that Bengali-speaking population was being targeted. She claimed a majority of the 40 lakh people who did not make it to the list were a Bengali-speaking chunk.
“Of the total 40 lakh, 25 lakh are Bengali Hindus, 13 lakh Bengali Muslims and 2 lakh Nepalis, Biharis and others. I have shown you so many documents. People in Punjab and Pakistan speak the same language. People in Bengal and Bangladesh speak the same language. Isn’t Hindi and Urdu widely spoken in the country? If you do not like a particular community, you cannot spread hatred like this. Hasina ji (Bangla PM) is welcome, others not? Didn’t Bengal participate in the freedom struggle? What’s wrong in speaking the Bangla language?” she said.
Mamata further said that even cows should now be given certificates to identify whether a cow is a refugee or an infiltrator. “My question is to all the Gau-rakshaks, is cow a refugee or an infiltrator. Make certificates for cows so that we know whether they are refugees or infiltrators. Amit Shah may not eat Hilsa fish. But people in Bangladesh, Bengal, UP and Bihar eat Hilsa fish. Is Hilsa a refugee or an infiltrator? This is super emergency,” she claimed.
This apart, she expressed dissent over not being consulted over the ‘one nation, one poll’ theory. “BJP feels that they are super human beings. They have crossed all historical, geographical, political boundaries. They changed the name of Mughalsarai also. They did not discuss it with political parties or in the parliament. I will not be surprised if they go for presidential kind of elections. Commoners are the biggest sufferers. BJP govt harasses the people. We are anti-nationals? They are an militant organisation. RSS should be declared a militant organisation. Isn’t mob violence, lynching, hatred politics a new low?”
Source: Zee News