Assam NRC: Mamata Banerjee said the names of 1 lakh Gorkhas have been left out of the list
Highlights
- 1 lakh people of Gorkha community left off citizens list: Mamata Banerjee
- She also said "CRPF and other jawans" were also left out
- Trinamool Congress has been one of the biggest critics of citizens list
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee attacked the centre today over the final version of the citizens' list in Assam, which has left out 19 lakh people who now have to prove they are Indian citizens. The months-long project, meant to move out illegal migrants from Bangladesh, has not only been criticised by the opposition but also leaders of the state BJP, who said it was a "conspiracy to keep the Hindus out".
In a series of tweets, Ms Banerjee said the names of 1 lakh Gorkhas have been left out of the list, besides "CRPF and other jawans, family members of former President Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed".
"Earlier I was not aware of the full NRC fiasco. As more and more information is coming in, we are shocked to see that names of more than 1 lakh Gorkha people have been excluded from the list," one of her tweets read.
Another tweet said:
The Trinamool Congress has been one of the most voracious critics of the citizens' list.
Earlier, Ms Banerjee had dubbed the Assam National Register of Citizens or NRC a "fiasco" and accused the ruling BJP of having "an ulterior motive rather than the good of the society and the larger interest of the nation" in mind.
To establish citizenship, the people of Assam had to furnish proof of residence dating back to before March 1971 -- when hundreds of thousands of people left Bangladesh as it split from Pakistan.
But when the final version of the Assam National Register of Citizens or NRC was published on Saturday, 19 lakh names were found to be left out.
Himanta Biswa Sarma -- Assam minister and the BJP's top strategist in the northeast -- said in a series of tweets: "The Names of many Indian citizens who migrated from Bangladesh as refugees prior to 1971 have not been included in the NRC because authorities refused to accept refugee certificates."
Hitting back, Congress's Tarun Gogoi, who had been the state's Chief Minister for three straight terms, said, " "If the BJP is crying (foul), whose responsibility is it? It's the BJP government in the state that has prepared this list".
The government has said the people left out of the list will not be declared foreigners immediately. They will have the option of appealing to the foreigners' Tribunals and the courts.