Assam police files FIR on Mamata Banerjee for NRC remarks, Trinamul fumes
Guwahati/Kolkata: The Assam police on Thursday registered an FIR against West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on complaints over her allegation that the Centre was conspiring to drive Bengalis out of Assam with the state’s National Register of Citizens (NRC) that is being updated.
The police FIR sparked an angry response from the Trinamul Congress (TMC) which said such an action would not stop her from fighting for the cause of the Bengalis while the BJP accused Banerjee of trying to make an “issue out of an non-issue” for reaping political dividends.
The BJP government in Assam condemned Banerjee’s statement, saying it was “derogatory, insulting to the people of Assam and against the Constitution as well as the spirit of the Supreme Court.”
Numerous groups staged protests across Assam condemning the statement by the TMC chief. At several places, including in Tinsukia and Biswanath, Banerjee’s effigies were burnt.
At a meeting in Ahmedpur in West Bengal on Wednesday, Ms Banerjee accused the NDA government at the Centre of “hatching a conspiracy” to drive out Bengalis from Assam by “excluding” their names from the first draft of the NRC, which was published on the midnight of December 31. “I warn the BJP government at the Centre not to play with fire... This is a conspiracy of the Centre to drive out around 1.80 crore people from the state,” she had said. The NRC of 1951 is being updated in Assam under the supervision of the Supreme Court to identify original residents of the state in order to check illegal migration.
Deputy Commissioner (Central) of Guwahati Police Ranjan Bhuyan told PTI, “Latasil police station received a complaint regarding an alleged speech of the West Bengal chief minister. We have registered the complaint and will carry out the investigation as per law.”
The complaint was filed by Gauhati high court advocate Tailendra Nath Das and the police have registered an FIR under Section 153(A) of the Indian Penal Code, he added.
