Won't allow NRC in Bengal: Mamata Banerjee

Kolkata: On a day when Union Home Minister Amit Shah asserted that the National Register of Citizens (NRC) exercise would be undertaken across India, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee assured people on Wednesday that her government will never allow preparation of any such list.

Addressing a public meeting at Sagardighi of Murshidabad district, Banerjee said nobody can take away the citizenship of any person and make him/her a refugee. She also challenged the BJP to clarify why the names of 14 lakh Hindus and Bengalis were left out of the final NRC brought out in Assam.

Obviously targeting the BJP without naming it, Banerjee said "a few people" were trying to foment trouble in the state in the name of NRC. "A few people are trying to foment trouble in the state by saying that NRC exercise will be carried out in Bengal. I would like to make it very clear, that we will never allow the NRC exercise in Bengal," she said. "We won't allow anybody to divide people on the basis of religion," she added.

Shah told the Rajya Sabha during the day that NRC will be implemented nationwide and asserted that no person from any religion need to be afraid of it. "The NRC exercise is monitored by the Supreme Court. No religion has been targeted or isolated during the NRC exercise," said Shah responding to a query of Congress leader Syed Nasir Hussain.