Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday came down heavily on Amit Shah and said she wouldn’t rest till the new citizenship matrix was repealed, before hurling specific questions at the Union home minister who had announced barely twenty-four hours ago there was no question of going back on the amended citizenship law.
The Bengal chief minister, who led a 4km protest march through the Darjeeling town, congratulated the hill people for the success of the rally against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, the National Population Register and the National Register of Citizens.
“Please keep alive this movement until the CAA, NPR and the NRC are withdrawn. This is a fight for our lives, this is a question of our rights, this is a question of our citizenship, a question of our dignity, of our land, our unity, a question of a united India,” she said.
Mamata plays a musical instrument during the walk. Picture by Passang Yolmo
The Trinamul leader promised to return to the hills for more protests, saying she wouldn’t allow “this (right to live in India) to be snatched” at any cost. “For this, even if I have to fight more, I will continue to fight, but I will not allow the country to be divided, our rights to be snatched.”
On Tuesday, Shah had made clear the central government wouldn’t withdraw the citizenship act. “I have come to proclaim this today from Lucknow’s soil that whoever wants to oppose can oppose it, the Citizenship Amendment Bill is not going to be taken back,” the BJP leader told a rally.
Shah had also dared Opposition leaders Mamata, Rahul Gandhi, Akhilesh Yadav and Mayawati to a “debate on this subject”.
Mamata didn’t talk about the “debate” in Darjeeling but came up with a number of questions. “Yesterday also, I heard Hindustan ka home minister went and gave big gyan. We respect teachers as they give true lessons while BJP leaders talk false and then accuse us of lying. If we have spoken lies, then tell us what is the truth?” Mamata said before rattling off the questions:
● Isn’t there a column in the National Population Register form for the date of birth and place of birth of parents? When there is a column, how can one say it will not be mandatory, and why is there a column in the first place? Since this provision is in the act, wouldn’t it be mandatory to fill the column?
At a meeting on Friday, Union home secretary Ajay Bhalla had sought to address concerns about additional information being sought for the NPR, saying certain questions were not mandatory.
● Isn’t the CAA discriminatory towards a particular community?
● To become citizens, don’t people have to be foreigners for five years? What would be the fate of people with jobs when they become foreigners for five years? Won’t their children face problems? What about the status of their property during the five-year foreigner phase?
The CAA seeks to grant citizenship to non-Muslim migrants from three neighbouring countries who had arrived before January 2015.
Playing to the Darjeeling crowd, Mamata reminded that nearly 1 lakh Gorkhas had been excluded from the Assam NRC and assured them that she was with the Gorkhas.
“I am with you. I will not allow a single Gorkha to be removed (from the list), I will not allow any member of any community to be removed,” she said.
