Mayawati seeks all-party meeting on Assam NRC issue

Joining the row over publication of the final draft of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam, BSP president Mayawati today condemned the exclusion of over 40 lakh people from it and demanded an immediate all-party meeting to explore the remedial measures.

"By depriving 40 lakh people, belonging to the religious and linguistic minorities living there for years, of their citizenship, the BJP governments both at the Centre and Assam have achieved the target of their narrow and divisive politics," she said in a press release here.

Cautioning that it would be very difficult to contain the frenzy emanating from this development, the BSP president said an all-party meeting was urgently needed to hammer out the necessary remedial measures.

She said the central government should not further complicate the matter on the pretext of having done it on court orders, alleging that the Centre has been "continuously flouting" the court orders.

"The country is witness to how the Centre has been continuously flouting the courts," she said.

The BSP president alleged that there was an anarchy and commotion all over the country because of the "narrow, casteist, communal and divisive policies" of the BJP and its governments and Uttar Pradesh too was affected by it.

She alleged that in western Uttar Pradesh, which is said to be the BSP stronghold, the Dalits and the Muslims were being subjected to an immense pressure from the government and demanded immediate steps to stop the "malicious campaign of every sort" against these sections.