Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee and finance minister Amit Mitra have said all are welcome for Puja but they should not disturb harmony in the name of NRC, virtually cautioning Union home minister Amit Shah against spreading hatred and panic.
“We invite all to come and see our Durga Puja. We welcome you. But please don’t come here to spread hatred, to divide. Don’t come here to disturb our harmony…. Bengal will prove through its culture that it does not encourage hatred,” Mamata said after inaugurating a puja in Kidderpore on Tuesday afternoon, hours after the BJP chief’s Netaji Indoor Stadium event where he made the NRC-related statements.
Although the Trinamul chief did not name Shah, Mitra directly accused the home minister of spreading panic during the festive season.
“Come to Bengal, we welcome you with open arms. Enjoy the festival, visit pandals, appreciate the art and culture, the food, the love…. Instead, the Union home minister is spreading panic on the eve of Durga Puja in Bengal…. He should know that 17 people have died in Bengal because of the panic over NRC.”
Union home minister Amit Shah at the BJ Block Puja in Salt Lake on Tuesday. Shah opened the puja and in a speech before the inauguration, urged the people to vote the BJP to power in Bengal in 2021. Chants of “Jai Shri Ram” were heard during the inauguration of the Durga idol at the puja, whose organising committee president is a BJP state committee member. Picture by Pradip Sanyal
Mitra disclosed that he was losing sleep himself over NRC as he was born in Jessore — now in Bangladesh — and did not have a birth certificate.
Mitra said Shah was trying to divide the people of Bengal along religious lines. “He (Shah) said people belonging to several religions would not face any trouble if NRC is implemented. He did not mention the people of only one religion. Does our Constitution allow this, these divisive statements that seek to discriminate on the basis of religion? Can he say that people belonging to one religion would not be able to stay in India?” asked Mitra.
He demanded answers on the fate of those left out of the final NRC in Assam. “More than 19 lakh people, out of which 14 lakh are Hindus have been left out…. Several new jails, called detention centres, are coming up in Assam. All these have left an impact on Bengal and people are high-strung,” he said.
Mitra said if a similar situation occurred in Bengal, the entire state would be turned into a “correctional home” and that cannot be allowed to happen. “BJP leaders have been saying more than one crore people would be identified (as infiltrators)…. If they are put behind bars, the whole state will be filled with jails.”
