‘A fiasco’, Mamata Banerjee pans Assam NRC, demands justice

Mamata Banerjee said the government must ensure justice for genuine Indian citizens in Assam who were left out of the NRC final list.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee described the final list of the National register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam released on Saturday as a “fiasco” and said the state government must ensure justice for genuine Indian citizens who are among 1.9 million people excluded from the list.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee who had opposed the National Register of Citizens (NRC) said it was guided by an ulterior motive. (AP)

“Government must take care that genuine Indians are not left out and justice is meted out to all of our genuine Indian brothers and sisters,” she tweeted on Sunday.

“In fact, names of thousands and thousands of genuine Indians, including those of CRPF and other jawans, family members of former President Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed, have been excluded,” she said in another tweet.

Earlier Saturday, Banerjee who also heads the Trinamool Congress, said the NRC which was carried out to detect illegal immigrants was guided by an ulterior motive.

“The NRC fiasco has exposed all those who tried to take political mileage out of it. They have a lot to answer to the nation. This is what happens when an act is guided by an ulterior motive rather than the good of the society and the larger interest of the nation,” the CM wrote.

“My heart goes out to all those, especially the large number of Bengali speaking brothers and sisters, who are made to suffer because of this botched-up process,” Banerjee said in another tweet.

A total of 3,30,27,661 people had applied to be included in the NRC. Of them, 3,11,21,004 have been included in the document and 19,06,657 excluded, a statement from the NRC State Coordinator’s office said.

Those excluded from the NRC will have 120 days to appeal against it at Foreigners Tribunals. If not satisfied with the verdict of the tribunals, they will have the option to move the High Court and the Supreme Court for redress.

After the NRC’s draft list was published last year, Banerjee had accused the BJP of trying to project everyone whose name did not appear in the list as infiltrators.

Ironically, the BJP which was once enthusiastic about the NRC said it had lost all hope from the exercise and spoke of bringing a legislation to safeguard the excluded Indian citizens if foreigners’ tribunals (FTs) deliver adverse judgments against their appeals.