Mamata Banerjee opposes NRC again, won't allow detention centres in WB

The Chief Minister of West Bengal and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday, October 22, stated that her government would not allow the setting up of detention centres in the state. The WB CM further said that the National Register of Citizens (NRC) would not be implemented in the state. CM Banerjee made the declaration while addressing officials from the districts of Alipurduar, Coochbehar and Jalpaiguri at a review administrative meeting in Kolkatta. "On behalf of state government, there is no plan to introduce National Register of Citizens (NRC) in West Bengal. Presently, there is a BJP government (in Assam). So, they were able to implement the NRC in Assam. But in our state the government is ours and we are already opposing the implementation of NRC. There is no question of detention camp because we are against it," the Chief Minister said. 

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Mamata Banerjee opposes CAB

Mamata Banerjee also asserted that she is opposing the Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB) which aims at granting citizenship to non-Muslims from Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Afghanistan who came to India before December 31, 2014. "Along the NRC, we are also opposing the Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB). It is never possible on the basis of religion. Anyone cannot decide who is Indian and who is foreigner," she said. The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016, was passed in the Lok Sabha on January 8. However, the bill could not be passed in Rajya Sabha.

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Amit Shah accused Mamata Banerjee of vote-bank politics 

Previously on October 1, Union Home Minister Amit Shah championing the implementation of the National Registry of Citizens (NRC) during his address at the NRC-Jagaran Abhiyan in Kolkata, called out the West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee of changing her stand over infiltrators after coming to power. Recalling a Parliament session from August 2005, wherein the WB CM dramatically flung papers at the Speaker while opposing illegal Bangladeshi immigrants, Amit Shah accused Mamata Banerjee of taking an exact opposite stand on infiltrators now for the sake of vote-bank politics. Speaking over the NRC back in 2005, Mamata Banerjee asserted that the CPI(M) in power then, benefitted from illegal immigrants as their vote bank. However, 14 years later, Banerjee's stance on NRC had taken a U-turn after the Chief Minister of West Bengal asserted that 'NRC will never be allowed in Bengal'. 

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Mamata Banerjee's stance in 2005

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(Inputs from ANI)