BJP Wants To Turn Entire Country Into A Detention Centre: Mamata Banerjee

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday slammed the Bharatiya Janata Party saying that it wants to turn the entire country into a detention centre. “BJP wants to turn the entire country into a detention centre but we will not let that happen,” the Trinamool Congress chief said while taking out a protest march in Kolkata. Today is the third consecutive day when she is spearheading the protest against the Citizenship Amendment Act and the National Register of Citizens (NRC).

TMC supremo Banerjee, along with her party colleagues, began a protest march from Howrah Maidan which will culminate at Dorina Crossing at Esplanade in the heart of Kolkata.

"We will never allow NRC and the amended Citizenship Act in Bengal. No one will be asked to leave the state. We believe in the coexistence of all religions, castes, and creed. All of us are citizens of this country, no one can take that away from us," she said before commencing the march.

She has already held two protest marches in north and south Kolkata on Monday and Tuesday respectively. Police have stepped up vigil across the state and as many as 354 protesters were arrested for violence.

Normalcy returned to Guwahati, while the curfew in Dibrugarh was relaxed for 14 hours since 6 am.

The curfew imposed in Guwahati, the gateway to the Northeast, on December 11 in the wake of protests against the citizenship law was lifted on Tuesday following improvement in the situation.

No fresh incidents of violence have been reported so far in the state. Business establishments and banks were open and vehicles plied normally. Schools and colleges were, however, closed. Mobile internet services remain suspended.

Flight operations and railway services had resumed in Guwahati on Tuesday, while flights to and from Dibrugarh airport were also operating as per schedule, officials said.

The All Assam Students' Union (AASU) will hold the third and final 'Mass Satyagraha' against the law in Guwahati. Curfew was relaxed for 14 hours in Meghalaya capital Shillong but the ban on mobile internet services is still in force, officials said.

Curfew was relaxed from 6 am in areas under Lumdiengjri and Sadar police station limits, an order issued by East Khasi Hills District Magistrate M W Nongbri said. The curfew will be reimposed in these areas from 8 pm till further orders.