Mamata Banerjee has said that till she is in power, no NRC will be allowed in Bengal.
New Delhi: The fear over implementation of the NRC (National Register of Citizens) that has gripped West Bengal is likely to cost the Bharatiya Janata Party, which is hoping to dethrone the Mamata Banerjee government and take the mantle of power in the state that goes to Assembly polls in 2021.
Several people from across the state are queuing up daily for hours at the municipal corporations and block level offices to get their birth certificates and other documents in place to prove their identity, if at all the NRC list is updated in Bengal. Such people are accusing the BJP of “creating” the pandemonium in the state.
Even certain sections of the BJP have expressed their unhappiness over the way the BJP is dealing with the NRC issue in the state. Sources said that the BJP is sliding in popularity in districts like Malda, Dinajpur, Medinipur, Cooch Behar, and Jalpaiguri, where the BJP won in the recently concluded Lok Sabha polls, given the way the NRC is being pushed in the state by the BJP.
A BJP leader from Cooch Behar, who did not wish to be named, said: “We are receiving many complaints from the local people about the fear that the issue of NRC has spread among the people.”
“People from all these areas are blaming the BJP, because Mamata Banerjee and her party have repeatedly been assuring the people that till she is in power in the state, no NRC will be allowed in Bengal. This has given a sense of assurance to the people and they are slowly drifting towards the Trinamool Congress (TMC) again. If the BJP cannot control this issue, it will be a huge loss for the party in the state,” the BJP leader said.
The Mamata Banerjee-led TMC administration has also accused the BJP of creating a sense of fear and uproar over the NRC issue in the state. It has also alleged that at least 11 people have died due to the NRC ruckus in Bengal over the last 10 days.
However, the BJP has blamed the TMC government in the state for creating this uproar and fear among people of the state.
BJP state president Dilip Ghosh told The Sunday Guardian: “The fear is being spread by the TMC. They are campaigning repeatedly that the NRC will be held in Bengal and that everyone should have their documents in place. The suicides are being falsely linked with the NRC issue. Those suicides have nothing to do with NRC.”
“The BJP has been very clear that the NRC will happen in Bengal and all the Rohingyas and illegal Bangladeshi Muslims will be thrown out of the country. Nonetheless, all Hindu refugees will be given citizenship in India and the Citizenship Amendment Bill will soon be passed in Parliament, paving the way for granting them citizenship legally,” Ghosh added.
The fear of NRC has spread in Bengal due to certain WhatsApp messages and rumour mongering in the state, according to police sources.
A source in the Bengal police told this newspaper, “We have come to know that a lot of fake messages are being spread on WhatsApp and other social networking sites that talk about how one community will be thrown out of the country. The messages also say that birth certificates would be the basis of determining one’s nationality. These are all false messages and we have been communicating this in all police stations through which correct information is being disseminated to the local populace.”
Not only this, rumours are rife about digitisation of ration cards in Bengal, the Electors’ Verification Programme, and the Census of 2021 being used as tools to identify illegal citizens in Bengal.
West Bengal police sources have also indicated that some Muslim organisations are also involved in spreading rumours among the minority community, especially in the border districts of Malda, North and South 24 Parganas.
A senior West Bengal police officer told this correspondent: “We are tracking some Muslim organisations that are spreading messages and rumours about how digitisation of ration cards, the Electors’ Verification Programme, and the Census of 2021 are being utilised by the Centre to mark people from the Muslim community and finally deport them. We have red flagged these organisations and action will be taken.”
The BJP has also planned a damage control exercise for the party relating to the NRC issue. According to Dilip Ghosh, the party will start campaigning to make the people understand that NRC is not against the people of Bengal and for this, the party has printed lakhs and lakhs of leaflets that will be given to every household by their karyakartas in every block and district.