BJP's Vijayvargiya slams Mamata over her opposition to CAB,NRC

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's statement that NRC and the Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB) will not be allowed in her state is "childish", BJP leader Kailash Vijayvargiya said here on Tuesday.

He also said the TMC supremo should know that she is the chief minister of West Bengal and not of Bangladesh, and bound by federal structure of the country.

Vijayvargiya, the BJP general secretary incharge of West Bengal, also said the Centre and states are bound by federal structure.

The Lok Sabha passed the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, which seeks to provide Indian citizenship to non-Muslim refugees coming from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan after facing religious persecution there, a little past midnight on Monday after a heated debate that lasted over seven hours.

Banerjee, who has been stridently opposing the National Register of Citizens (NRC) and the CAB provisions, had said in Kharagpur that "there is no need to worry about NRC and CAB. We will never ever allow it in Bengal. They can't just throw out a legal citizen of this country or turn him/her a refugee".

Vijayvargiya told reporters: "I don't know whether Banerjee has read the Constitution of India or not? Under the federal structure of the country, the Centre and state governments discharge separate responsibilities.

"It's the job of the Centre to enact laws regarding citizenship and get them passed in Parliament," he added.

Expressing surprise over Banerjee's remarks, he said, "In federal structure, how can Banerjee say she will not allow this law (CAB) to be implemented in West Bengal? She is the Chief Minister of West Bengal and not of Bangladesh.

If such statement is made by a chief minister then her general knowledge is "laughable", he added.

Vijayvargiya also targetted the Congress and other parties for opposing the CAB.

"With the passage of the CAB in Lok Sabha, the real faces of Opposition parties who were holding power in the name of so-called secularism stood exposed," he said.

Singling out the Congress, which opposed the contentious legislation in the Lower House, Vijayvargiya said the "so-called secular" Congress has strongly opposed this bill.

He also accused the Congress of "compromising with Hindu and Muslim extremists" for the sake of power in Maharashtra and Kerala.

"The secularism of the Congress is such that it compromises with the Muslim League in Kerala and with the Shiv Sena in Maharashtra to form governments.

"On one hand, the Congress compromises with Hindu extremists to form a government and on the other it compromises with Islamic extremists. In fact, Congress has no ideology other than to get power", he said.