Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday broke into the saffron stronghold of Assam by attacking the BJP for showing “political brutality” by throwing out the refugees in the name of National Register of Citizens(NRC).
Banerjee who was addressing am election rally at Dhubri said the BJP had “struck out 43 lakh people from the citizenship in the name of NRC. They have done it to the Hindus, they have done it to the Muslims and all other people.”
She said the BJP “knows only the art of dividing the people in the name of caste, and community to win elections.” Speaking at an impressive rally she said “I had taken up this issue long ago last year but my MPs and MLAs were not allowed to enter Assam and were forced to return from the airport,” she said. The Chief Minister had last year sent a team of TMC leaders to Assam to express solidarity with the “victims of NRC.”
She said, “in order to reap narrow political mileage the BJP Government was trying to divide the people in the name of religion. “They are branding the refugees as foreigners to throw them out of the country. We will not let this happen and will continue to fight for them,” Banerjee who had earlier, lambasted BJP president Amit Shah for announcing his party’s intentions to implement the NRC in Bengal once his party came to power.
Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress is contesting on nine seats in Assam.
Earlier addressing a rally at Bagdogra-Naxalbari in North Bengal the Chief Minister launched a no-hold-barred attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi for misleading the people.
“This expiry Prime Minister whose date in the office has expired is misleading the people by tall promises,” she said asking a gathering in the Darjeeling Lok Sabha constituency, “has the Prime Minister given you Gorkhaland that he promised?”
The TMC Government had soon after coming to power in 2011 signed the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration agreement with the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha.