My heart goes out to those excluded from draft NRC in Assam: Mamata

On World Humanitarian Day today, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said her heart goes out to those left out of the draft National Register of Citizens in Assam, which has excluded nearly 40 lakh people.

Describing human rights as one of the basic tenets of the Constitution, Banerjee said those excluded from the NRC have become refugees in their own country.

"Today is World Humanitarian Day. Respecting human rights is one of the basic tenets of our Constitution. On this day, my heart goes out to the 40 lakh people who have become refugees in their own country because of #NRCAssam," she wrote on Twitter.

She has been raising her voice against the draft NRC since the complete draft was published on July 30, and claimed that those who did not make it to the list of the citizens' register "were being sent to detention camps".

More than 2.89 crore people were found to be eligible for inclusion in the draft NRC, out of the total 3.29 crore applicants.

The Trinamool Congress supremo had also said those who have been staying in the country for years were "branded as infiltrators". She has accused the ruling BJP of carrying out the exercise with an eye on the Lok Sabha election.