The Left Front on Sunday tried to claw back in north Bengal politics by holding a seminar on the National Registrar of Citizens, which became a matter of public interest in the region that shares the border with Assam.

The names of around 40 lakh people, mostly the Bengali speaking, were excluded from the NRC draft list that was published in Assam on July 30.

The NRC has become one of the key issues in political discourse in Bengal with Mamata Banerjee denouncing the move and the BJP demanding a similar exercise in the state to weed out Bangladeshi infiltrators.

“We have hardly been visible in this debate. We are trying to make ourselves heard. And as the concerns about an NRC-like exercise in Bengal are very high, we have decided to hold more programmes in north Bengal,” said a CPM source.

The initiative started with a seminar here on Sunday. It was held under the banner of the United Central Rehabilitation Committee, a Left leaning outfit. The fact that the Left parties lent their support to the event was clear as the Netaji Subash Indoor Stadium, where the event was held, was packed to its capacity.

Speaking at the seminar, CPM MLA Sujan Chakraborty said: “Being a citizen of India, we have every right to live in any part of this country. However, the BJP has started divisional politics in the name of the NRC. After Assam, it has also threatened to implement the same in Bengal. We have to fight against it.”

Poet Mandakranta Sen and lawyer Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya were among the speakers at the seminar. They all criticised the BJP’s divisive politics by highlighting that the NRC was an attempt at polarising voters ahead of the Lok Sabha polls.

Bhattacharya said the exclusion of the names of 40 lakh people from he NRC was a matter of great concern. “They are driven only by vote bank politics. They are using the NRC to divide the people. In Assam, strife has already started. They want a repeat in Bengal. We would oppose it,” said Bhattacharya.

Political observers said the beleaguered Left Front would derive political dividends from the campaign against the NRC. “Over the past few months, many BJP leaders including, Bengal party president Dilip Ghosh, have frequently visited different areas of the Dooars and Cooch Behar district and spoken about the NRC. Trinamul has been vocal against the NRC. If the Left also joins the protest, they can gain some of the lost ground,” said an observer.