West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday said she told Prime Minister Narendra Modi to rethink on the issue of amended Citizenship Act and urged him to withdraw CAA, NRC and NPR.
Modi told her to come to New Delhi and discuss the matter, she told reporters after a meeting with the PM at Raj Bhawan.
Just after the meeting, Banerjee went straight to TMC students wing sit-in demonstration in the city against CAA, where she reiterated her stand that the new Citizenship law would never be implemented in Bengal.
Banerjee termed her meeting with PM Modi as a "courtsey visit" and said she has raised issues regarding the due financial assitance that the state is yet to receive from the Centre.
"It was a courtsey meeting. I told him about Rs 28,000 crore that the state is yet to receive from the Centre. Including Rs 7000 crore, we are supposed to get for the cyclone Fani.
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"I acquainted him that we are against CAA, NPR and NRC . I also told him that protest is going on across the country against CAA, NRC and NPR.
"I told him that there should not be any discrimination among masses and no citizens should be left out or tortured. I asked him that the Centre should rethink on the issues and withdraw CAA," she said.
When asked what PM Modi said in reply, the TMC supremo said, "regarding the matter related to states, he said he will look into the documents and about these issues (CAA, NRC and NPR), he said he has come for a few government programmes. So if there is an opportunity he would speak on the subjects in New Delhi".
The meeting assumes significance as the new citizenship law has emerged as the latest flashpoint in the state. Banerjee's Trinamool Congress is opposing the contentious legislation tooth and nail and the BJP is pressing for its implementation.
The meeting between the two leaders comes just two days after Banerjee had on Thursday said in the state Assembly that she would boycott an opposition meeting called by Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi on January 13 over the JNU violence, the Citizenship Amendment Act and other "anti- people" policies of the Centre.
Later while addressing party's anti-CAA rally at Rani Rashmoni Road, Banerjee referring to the gazette notification by the Union Home ministry regarding CAA, said the notification will be only on paper, it will never be implemented either in the country or in Bengal.
"The CAA notification will only remain on paper but will never be implemented. We will not implement the CAA...This is unconstitutional, illegal and wrong," Banerjee said while addressing the rally.
The Centre on Friday, in a gazette notification, announced that the Citizenship (Amendment) Act will come into force from January 10.
She said those who are in power at the centre should not do whatever they feel like just because they have the majority (in Parliament).
"Those who are yet to understand the situation must wake up now. There is no point in sleeping while keeping your eyes open," she said at the rally.
The meting between Prime Minister Modi and Banerjee drew sharp reactions from Congress and CPI(M), which said Trinamool Congress' "double standard" is now exposed.
"Mamata Banerjee and TMC are now exposed. We have been saying this for a long time that TMC is a B Team of BJP in Bengal.
"Now it has been proved. She doesn't want to fight BJP, rather she is helping the saffron camp in the state. This match-fixing is going on between both the parties," CPI(M) politburo member Mohammed Salim said.
West Bengal Congress president Somen Mitra too echoed Salim's views and said people of the state would "give a befitting reply to Banerjee for betraying their trust".
The Trinamool Congress leadership refuted claims of "political match-fixing" and said the meeting between the two leaders was just a government-to-government meeting.
"Lets get this straight. Todays meeting is government-to-government. And Trinamool Congress don't need certificates from anyone. We started this movement & now it is a peoples movement.
"How many processions have you walked in? How many protests have you led? Stop giving advice sitting on a sofa," TMC leader in the Rajya Sabha Derek O' Brien said in a statement hitting out at the rivals.
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