Mamata's TMC delegation sent to assess NRC issue stopped at Assam airport

A Trinamool Congress delegation which reached here on Thursday to assess the situation in Assam in the wake of the publication of the complete draft of the NRC was stopped at the airport, official sources said.

TMC MP Sukhendu Sekhar Roy, who is a member of the delegation, told PTI that the police stopped them at the airport on their arrival saying their visit might create trouble.

The TMC delegation including six MPs were kept in the VIP lounge of Kumbhigram airport here in Cachar district under Barak Valley region, the sources said.

The Cachar district administration last night issued prohibitory order under Section 144 of the CrPC and banned entry of any person not involved with the NRC process in the district.

The TMC team went there at the instruction of party supremo and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.
 

Banerjee has been accusing the BJP-led central government of resorting to "vote-bank politics" on the NRC issue and saying that "Indian citizens have become refugees" in their own land.

Speaking on the issue, TMC MP Derek O Brien said, "Our delegation was detained at Silchar airport. It is our democratic right to meet people, this is a super emergency like situation".