TMC continues rant over NRC, din in both Houses

New Delhi: The Trinamul Congress on Wednesday continued its rant over Assam’s draft National Register of Citizens inside and outside Parliament, with party chief Mamta Banerjee alleging the draft NRC’s publication “will destroy” India’s relationship with neighbouring Bangladesh.

The Election Commission, however, made it clear that an exclusion from this list will not automatically lead to their removal from electoral rolls as registration of voters is decided under the election laws. Chief election commissioner O.P. Rawat said the people excluded from the NRC would not be automatically removed from the electoral rolls of Assam as registration as a voter is determined by three criteria under the Representation of the People Act 1950.

Both Houses of Parliament saw uproarious scenes on Wednesday over the NRC issue. Protests by Trinamul Congress members yet again forced the adjournment of the Rajya Sabha for the day, as it failed to complete a discussion on Assam’s NRC and the and the reply to it by home minister Rajnath Singh.

[The Bangladesh government has made it clear that the entire NRC issue is an “internal matter” of India, giving a clear signal that there is no question of any deportation of these people to Bangladesh in future. Its information  minister Hasanul Haq Inu told TV channels the illegal immigration issue “had nothing to do with Bangladesh”.]

In the Lok Sabha, Congress MP Sushmita Dev created a scene as she entered the Well of the House claiming that some “Bengalis were beaten up along the Assam-Meghalaya border after the draft NRC was published” and sought their safety. The TMC members demanded that Prime Minister Narendra Modi come to the House and give members an assurance in this regard.

Congress leader and Rajya Sabha MPAnand Sharma raised a point of order and insisted on the removal of BJP president Amit Shah’s comments. Mr Shah had spoken on the NRC on Wednesday, after which the House had to be adjourned as the Opposition members objected to his statement. Chairman M. Venkaiah Naidu assured Mr Sharma he would go through the records and give a ruling, asking Mr Shah to resume his statement. Mr Sharma said that Mr Shah, during his speech on the NRC debate, had termed all Prime Ministers in office after the late Rajiv Gandhi as “buzdil” (cowards). In a jibe at the ruling BJP, Mr Sharma noted that one of these PMs, Atal Behari Vajpayee, belonged to the BJP.

The Congress later decided to call a full CWC meeting to evolve a proper response on the draft NRC. It will be held on August 4 in New Delhi.

Speaking on the issue, Ms Banerjee said only one per cent of the 40 lakh residents whose names are missing from the draft NRC might be infiltrators, but people were being “harassed” in the name of infiltrators. She added that the government could even brand her an “infiltrator” too as her parents did not have papers to prove that they were born in India. “My father or even my mother never had birth certificates to show that they were born here. Luckily, I have my documents, but on the ground that my parents do not have proper documents, the BJP government could have branded me an infiltrator,” the West Bengal chief minister told reporters.