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TMC, Congress, Left unite in Bengal assembly to condemn NRC
Trinamool’s proposal to send an all-party resolution to the Centre, condemning the list and demanding its withdrawal, was supported by Congress and Left legislators.
Trinamool Congress, Left and Congress legislators united inside the West Bengal assembly on Tuesday to condemn the list prepared by National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam that has left out more than 4 million people, mostly of whom are Bengalis.
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A proposal by state parliamentary affairs minister Partha Chatterjee to send an all-party resolution to the Union government condemning the list and demanding its immediately withdrawal received overwhelming support from all the Congress and Left Front legislators present in the House.
Chatterjee also initiated a discussion condemning NRC. Congress, Trinamool and Left Front MLAs took part in it. Two out of the three BJP MLAs from Bengal were present in the assembly but they did not participate in the debate.
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Despite the unity, CPI-M MLA Sujan Chakrabarty said the state government had received from the Centre files on 1,14,971 people who are currently residing in Assam but hail from Bengal. He said the files were sent for verification. The state government verified only 7,430 documents though it should have responded to all the inquiries, Chakrabarty alleged.
PWD minister Arup Biswas argued that it is virtually impossible for the government to check each of these documents since it has other work to do as well.
Chatterjee alleged that many intellectuals in the state are worried. “They are eager to go to Assam and express solidarity with those left out of the list,” he said.
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An eight-member Trinamool delegation will to visit Assam on August 2 and 3. The team will include six MPS, Sukhendu Sekhar Ray, Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar, Ratna De Nag, Nadimul Haque, Arpita Ghosh and Mamata Thakur and Bengal urban development minister Firhad Hakim and MLA Mahua Moitra.
“We will go to Silchar, Guwahati and Nagaon. We will try to interact with people who have not been included in the list,” said a member of the delegation who did not wish to be named.
