New Delhi: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday alleged that the National Registrar of Citizens (NRC) exercise in Assam was done with a "political motive" to divide people and warned that it would lead to a bloodbath and a civil war in the country.
Attacking the BJP, Mamata said the saffron party is trying to divide the country and asserted this will not be tolerated.
"The NRC is being done with a political motive. We will not let this happen. They (BJP) are trying to divide the people. The situation cannot be tolerated. There will be a civil war, bloodbath in the country," Banerjee told a conclave here.
Banerjee underscored that India-Pakistan-Bangladesh were one nation before partition. She said who so ever came from Bangladesh to India till March 1971 is an Indian citizen.
"Only to win polls people can't be victimised. Don't you think people whose name isn't in the list will lose a part of their identity?" she said.
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Meanwhile, she also hit out at Chief Minister Sarbanada Sonowal-led government, saying people who recently voted for the incumbent government in the state and at the Centre, have been declared as refugees in their own country.
"What is going on in Assam, the NRC problem? It is not only the Bengalis, it is the minorities, it is Hindus, it is Bengalis, it is Biharis," she said.
"I don't want to see my motherland with hope, I don't want to see my motherland divided. We will not allow this to happen in Bengal because we are there. Today these people cannot even vote," she added.
The West Bengal Chief Minister, continuing her tirade against the BJP, said she is shocked that the former President Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed's family members' names have not been included in the NRC final draft.
"I am surprised to see that the names of our former President Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed's family members are not on the NRC Assam list. What else can I say? There are so many people whose names are not there," she said.
Also Read: 40 lakh left out of draft list of NRC in Assam, no threat of deportation
Banerjee is in the capital city to meet Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh to discuss possible amendments which can be brought in the draft.
However, the Supreme Court earlier on Tuesday averred that all those whose names haven't been included in the list must be given a fair chance to substantiate their claims.
Also Read: Assam NRC only draft list, no action against those left out: SC to Centre
The massive Supreme Court-monitored exercise to identify genuine Indian nationals living in Assam excluded over 40 lakh people from the final draft list.
The issue rocked both house of Parliament after which Home Minister Rajnath Singh appealed to the opposition not to politicise the "sensitive" matter as the list has been published on the directives of the Supreme Court and the Centre has "no role" in it.
(With inputs from agencies)
