Chief minister Mamata Banerjee dwelt on the issue of National Register of Citizens and the possibility of people landing up in detention camps in her campaign outings in north Bengal as she tried to woo Rajbanshis and other communities in the region.
Members of those communities are immigrants from Bangladesh that shares borders with north Bengal and Assam.
On April 10, elections would be held in 14 Assembly seats in Cooch Behar and Alipurduar.
Mamata addressed two public meetings in Baneswar and Sitalkuchi for party candidates Binoy Krishna Burman and Partha Pratim Roy.
“If you do not vote for us, you will face NPR and NRC and will be thrown into a detention camp like it has happened with over 14 lakh people in Assam. If BJP comes to power, this is the consequence that you have to face. Some other states have done it but we will never implement it in Bengal. For us, all those who live in Bengal are Indian citizens.”
Such remarks of Mamata, party insiders said, are a part of the party's strategy to use the citizenship matrix to draw support from people living in these two districts, who can easily relate themselves with the NRC exercise of Assam.
“Many of these people are still disappointed as their family members and relatives could not enrol themselves in the NRC. An underlying apprehension that they would be sent to detention camps is always there among them. We are thus underscoring the issue to prove that they too, might face similar consequences,” said a Trinamul leader of Alipurduar.
At the meeting, Mamata also addressed the Matuas and other Bengali Hindus who have come from Bangladesh and live in these districts.
“The BJP leaders say they will provide land rights to refugees. We have already regularised all the refugee colonies… also, it is our government that is addressing the longstanding issue of enclaves,” she added.
Political observers pointed that as the BJP has not taken any immediate initiative to implement the CAA, these people are equally perturbed.
“We have seen how the Matua community had mounted pressure on the BJP so that the CAA is implemented immediately…. as the uncertainty still lingers among them, Mamata Banerjee is trying to win their support by asserting that all residents of the state are Indian citizens. Not to forget the minority vote bank of the state that comprises around 28 per cent of the population who are equally worried over the NRC issue,” said an observer.
In both the meetings, Mamata also played the development card and went on elaborating on the series of infrastructural developments and other initiatives which include constitution of language academies and development board for Rajbanshis, a separate development board for Rajbanshi Muslims (nasya sheikhs) among others.
In 2016, Trinamul had won 12 seats of these two districts. However, in 2019 Lok Sabha polls, BJP could win both Alipurduar and Cooch Behar Parliament seats and had managed to secure leads in 12 Assembly segments, barring two segments of Cooch Behar.
Mamata also insisted that her party should win in more than 200 seats. “We need 200 seats or else, the BJP will use money power and would buy some betrayers. They are devils in disguise. We need your support,” she said.
