West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday said that a family in Alipurduar district has received a citizenship notice from the Assam government and lashed out at the BJP government in the neighbouring state for “targeting” Bengali-speaking people.
“Even yesterday, two people from Falakata in Alipurduar, Anjali Sil and Nitya Sil, received notices from the Assam government. These notices, issued in Assamese, came from the Foreigners’ Tribunal in Kokrajhar. Such actions are unacceptable and violate the rights of the residents of Bengal,” the chief minister said at a press meet at the state secretariat.
“How can another state intervene in Bengal’s affairs? This is not only unethical but also unconstitutional and illegal. They are now crossing all limits. I want to tell the so-called ‘Double Engine’ government of the BJP to first set their own house in order before interfering in ours,” the chief minister said.
Hitting out at the BJP, Mamata said: “They are vandalising Kali temples, inciting riots, torching houses, evicting people, putting them in detention camps, and cancelling their names. If they think this is how they will run the country, it will divide the nation. And if that happens, the strong framework of the country will collapse — we don’t want that. We want our country to remain united and strong.”
A day after she had slammed Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma for sending ‘National Register of Citizens (NRC)’ notices to Bengal residents, Mamata once again took a swipe at him over the law and order situation in Northeast states.
“With all due respect to the Assam CM, I would say that he could not control the violence in Manipur, which is still burning, even though he is in charge of the North-East state… All the rage, hatred, deprivation, humiliation, atrocities — including linguistic atrocities — are now being directed at Bengal. Language is the pride of every individual. I am not against any language — I love all languages. Unity in diversity is in our roots. We have different cultural practices and food habits, but we live harmoniously. This is India,” the TMC supremo said.
Referring to another letter from the BJP government in Haryana, “suspecting” some Bengal residents to be Bangladeshis, the CM said:
“Malda, Dakshin Dinajpur, Uttar Dinajpur, Nadia, Murshidabad, Cooch Behar, and North 24 Parganas officials have been directed to verify the names and report them as per MHA guidelines. Is this a deliberate attempt to take control of Bengal by force? Are they trying to erase the identity of the state? Is this a new form of linguistic terrorism?” Banerjee asked.
“They have now chosen particular states to create problems. However, there is no need to be worried. It is our responsibility to protect our people. If BJP thinks they can remove names from voter lists and win Bengal (polls) like in Maharashtra or Delhi, they are mistaken,” she asserted.
“Every Indian citizen has the right to travel anywhere in the country for work. This is the right to work, which is mentioned in the Constitution. 1.5 crore people work in Bengal. People of all states live here, work here, do business, and contribute to industry. We never face such issues here. So, if someone from our state works elsewhere, what problem does the BJP have? It’s not as if they went on their own — they were hired because of their skills and talent,” she added.
Stating that over 30 crore people speak Bengali in the world, the CM said: “This illegal detention is an insult to our mother tongue.”