Kolkata: Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday called the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill 2019, which is going to be tabled by the Narendra Modi government in the ongoing winter session of the Parliament, a ‘trap’ like the National Register of Citizens (NRC).
The Trinamul supremo also claimed that she had spearheaded a movement to protect the refugees when she became an MP from Jadavpur for the first time early in her political career.
Addressing a meeting at Ras Mela Maidan in Cooch Behar she told the crowd, “The Central government is going to introduce the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill. I want to tell you it is nothing but another trap like the NRC. It is a trap to exclude Bengalis and Hindus from the list of legal citizens and make them refugees in their own countries. After our government came to power in the state, we have taken steps to grant citizenship to refugees of enclaves in Coochbehar.”
Banerjee said, “But we never enforced any condition that they would have to be in this country for six years. I have a request to all of you. Do not feel panicked about NRC. The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill is an alternative of NRC. If anyone tries to play politics here with that then do not forget all the refugees are the citizens of this country.”
