NRC has become a political weapon in West Bengal

The long-standing dispute over the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in India’s northeastern state of Assam has not yet stopped that this NRC is emerging as a strong political weapon in neighbouring West Bengal.

Due to fear of NRC, at least a dozen people have committed suicide in different parts of the state. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has repeatedly said that she will not allow NRC to be implemented in her state. Despite this, people are not confident about their words. This is the reason that long queues have started coming out of government offices for important documents like land, house and birth and death certificates. Especially in the border areas bordering Bangladesh, the situation is very serious.

The process of refugees coming from Bangladesh in West Bengal is as old as the independence of the country. Lakhs of people coming from there have been settled by the state governments in the border areas and all political parties have been using them as vote banks. The round of allegations and counter-allegations between TMC and BJP in the state on the NRC issue is steadily intensifying. The condition is that the state government has to appeal to ignore the rumours by releasing advertisements on radio, TV and newspapers.

Sabir Ali (32), living in Sardarpada area of ​​Jalpaiguri district, died this week by jumping into a well in front of the house. Ali’s uncle Liaquat Ali says, “Ali’s birth certificate and Aadhaar card contained many mistakes. Apart from this, the documents of the house were not available. He was depressed. He finally committed suicide due to fear of NRC.” In another incident in the district, a person named Anand Rai committed suicide by hanging the noose around his neck. His family claims that the Aadhar card and voter card are not linked and wrong He was upset due to being in. After committing to the government offices for several days, when the work was not done, he committed suicide.

In fact, since the last list of NRC released in Assam at the end of last month, more than 19 lakh people were left out, there is a lot of terror among the people especially from minority section of Bengal. For the last two-three weeks, many Muslim organizations have appealed to the people to correct their citizenship documents by organizing seminars and distributing pamphlets in minority-dominated areas. Along with this, all the leaders of BJP have also repeatedly reiterated that the implementation of Energies in Bengal. This has caused panic among the common people.

People are reaching government offices early in the morning to get birth and death certificates and to correct the mess in the papers. Atin Ghosh, deputy mayor of Kolkata Municipal Corporation, says, due to the terror on NRC, more than 250 people are reaching here every day. We only have the ability to provide services to a hundred people. The talk of NRC in Bengal is just a rumour, but no one can believe it.

Apart from Kolkata, the situation is similar in other areas bordering Assam and Bangladesh. Shabina Khatoon, who came to the municipal corporation from South 24-Parganas district, says, “We have been in the queue since six o’clock in the morning. Even yesterday, but despite standing for hours, our number did not come.” Her brother was born in 2012. Was. Then the family members did not take the birth certificate. Now they are busy in correcting the papers due to the rumour of NRC.

The blame game between TMC and BJP

Now TMC and BJP are trying to blame each other for the terror spreading over NRC. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee says, “My government will not allow the NRC to be implemented in Bengal under any circumstances. If the BJP is so enthusiastic about NRC then why does it not do this exercise in BJP-ruled Tripura? In the event of the Chief Minister Biplab being implemented Will be removed from the list. “TMC President says that NRC was implemented in Assam only because of the provisions of the Assam Accord. Bengal or the country There is no reason to implement NRC in other parts. Mamta also led a rally organized against NRC in Kolkata.

On the other hand, BJP state president Dilip Ghosh says, “The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill will be implemented in Bengal first and only then will the NRC exercise begin. Through the said bill, all Hindus will be given Indian citizenship. One from here The Hindu will not be thrown out. “BJP general secretary and state BJP central in-charge Kailash Vijayvargiya Trinamool Congress on the name of NRC Copy and allege to terrorize.

Meanwhile, the BJP and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh ( RSS have said that the workers of the organization will go door-to-door campaign to remove the terror spreading among the people and form a general opinion on the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill. Union spokesperson Jishnu Basu says, “We will soon start a door-to-door awareness campaign regarding the NRC and Citizenship (Amendment) Bill. We will tell the general public that NRC is necessary to remove illegal Bangladeshi Muslim infiltrators.”

The problem of infiltration in West Bengal is much older and more serious than Assam. Identification of people coming from across the border is difficult due to the similarity in dialect, living and customs of the people of West Bengal and Bangladesh. The process of refugees from across the border started due to the partition of 1947 is still prevalent. This changed the graph of the state’s population, social fabric and economic scenario completely.

Seventy million refugees from across the border in Bengal between 1947 and 1971 not only changed the graph of the state’s population but also set the direction of future politics. Even after 1971, the flow of refugees remains the same. All political parties have been using them as their vote bank. This massive infiltration has so ruined the structure and nature of the economy and politics of this state that it has not yet been able to return to the right path. At present, about 30 per cent of the state’s population is Muslim.

Political observers say that keeping in mind the 2021 assembly elections, TMC and BJP have made NRC political weapon here.

Originally published at https://www.mubahisa.in.