CPI-M pulls up BJP, Mamata over NRC

The CPI-M has attacked both West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and the BJP over the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam, saying both were pursuing narrow political interests.

"The publication of the draft NRC has led to political jockeying," said an editorial in the CPI-M journal "People's Democracy".

"The BJP is aggressively seeking to portray all those excluded as Bangladeshi infiltrators, or, illegal migrants. They seek to make a distinction between Hindu refugees and illegal Muslim migrants," it said.

"On the other end of the spectrum, Mamata Banerjee has denounced the NRC process and raised fears of Bengalis and Biharis being driven out of Assam. This is an obvious ploy to rouse Bengali sentiments and play upon minority insecurities for narrow political purposes."

The Communist Party of India-Marxist argued that as against the communal divisiveness, there had to be a bias-free process of including all Indians as citizens in the NRC.

"The NRC updating is not taking place in a political vacuum. There is a BJP-led government in the state which seeks to target all Bengali-speaking Muslims as illegal migrants. So vigilance has to be exercised that this bias does not manifest in the enumeration process.

"It is imperative that no Indian is deprived of his, or, her right to citizenship and to be included in the NRC."

The publication of the draft NRC in Assam has led to bitterness as over four million persons who had applied have not found a place in the Register.

--IANS

mr/soni