Sending TMC delegation part of Mamata’s ‘evil design’ to divide Assam: CM Sonowal

The Assam chief minister also expressed his gratitude to “the state’s Bengali-speaking people and organisations for unequivocally registering their protests against the West Bengal chief minister’s plan to polarise the state”.

Trinamool Congress head Mamata Banerjee’s decision to send a delegation to Assam to protest the National Register of Citizens (NRC) exercise was part of an “evil design” to polarise the society, chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal said on Saturday.

Assam chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal addresses a press conference recently. (Rajib Jyoti Sarma/ HT Photo)

He was referring to the arrival of an eight-member delegation of the Trinamool Congress at the Silchar airport on Thursday, only to be sent back by the district administration without being allowed to interact with the people. Banerjee – who is also the chief minister of West Bengal – termed the instance as an example of the “super-emergency” that the country is being subjected to under BJP governance.

In a statement issued through the chief minister’s office, Sonowal thanked the residents of Barak Valley “for the exemplary composure they had exhibited without falling prey to the divisive design of external forces”. He also expressed his gratitude to “the state’s Bengali-speaking people and organisations for unequivocally registering their protests against the West Bengal chief minister’s plan to polarise the state”.

The chief minister then went to say that ever since the process of updating the NRC was taken up, some “vested interests” have been trying to derail it by making remarks inimical to the unity prevalent among the people of Assam.

Over 40 lakh people were excluded from the complete NRC draft brought out on Monday. Banerjee stated that the exercise would lead to a bloodbath and a civil war, spurring several individuals to file cases against her in Assam.