Assam NRC draft to cause 'civil war', 'bloodbath' in India, warns Mamata Banerjee

The National Registrar of Citizens (NRC) exercise in Assam was done with a “political motive” and it would lead to “bloodbath and a civil war” in the country, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee warned on Tuesday.

Alleging that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was trying to divide the country, Mamata asserted it will not be tolerated and it should not try to implement it in her state.

”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, a bloodbath in the country,” Banerjee told a conclave in the national capital.

The Trinamool Congress leader pointed out that even the names of family members of former president Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed have not been included in the NRC.

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“The BJP has the audacity to say that they would implement NRC in Bengal and thinks only they and their supporters would stay in India and rest will have to leave the country,” she said. 

Mamata appealed to all communities to build up a momentum against the government’s decision.
”No one can give us direction. This is not the politics of India. Indian politics is about tolerance,” she said.

The Supreme Court-monitored exercise to identify genuine Indian nationals living in Assam excluded over 40 lakh people from the final NRC draft list. The issue rocked both houses of Parliament.

Also Read | No coercive action will be taken over Assam's NRC list: Supreme Court

Saying that the Centre has no role in it, 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.

As concerns are being raised over the future of those whose names were excluded from the NRC draft list, the minister asserted that no “coercive” action will be taken against them.