TMC to Hold Rallies Across Bengal Against Assam's NRC Draft

Kolkata The Trinamool Congress (TMC) will take out rallies across West Bengal on Saturday to protest the publication of National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam, a senior leader of the party said.

The state capital, however, has been exempted from Saturday's plan, TMC secretary-general and West Bengal Education Minister Partha Chatterjee said here on Friday.

BJP national president Amit Shah is set to address a public meeting on Saturday in the central part of Kolkata.

"Barring Kolkata, we will organise rallies across the state in protest against the NRC. A separate rally will be taken out in the capital city on Sunday," Chatterjee told reporters here.

The minister also accused the BJP-led Assam government of "deliberately omitting" Bengalis from the NRC draft.

The complete draft of the NRC was published on July 30 in Assam with 2.89 lakh names out of 3.29 applicants. Over 40 lakh people did not make it to the list.

"Lakhs of Bengalis have been omitted from the NRC draft. It has been done deliberately. We demand that these names be included in the list. You cannot make a person refugee in his own country," Chatterjee added.

Reacting to the TMC announcement, West Bengal BJP president Dilip Ghosh alleged that the ruling party wants to instigate violence during Shah's rally.

"The TMC has announced this protest rally to stop the BJP workers from coming to the venue of Amit Shah's public meeting. The party wants to instigate violence in Bengal. But I want to tell them clearly that if they create trouble, they will get a befitting reply from the people of this state," Ghosh said.

Last week, the ruling party had observed 'black day' across the state against detention of its MPs at Silchar airport in Assam.

An eight-member TMC delegation that reached Silchar on August 2 to assess the situation in Assam in the wake of the NRC publication was not allowed to leave the airport.

TMC supremo and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had claimed that the delegation members were manhandled at the airport and accused the BJP of imposing "super emergency" in the country.