Anti-CAA protest: Tamang faction of Gorkha Janmukti Morcha calls for bandh in Darjeeling on Dec 29

Gorkha Janmukti Morcha’s (youth wing) has called a Darjeeling bandh on December 29, 2019 against National Register of Citizens and Citizenship Amendment Act. The bandh has been called by Binoy Tamang faction of GJM and the group has said that everything will remain shut in the Darjeeling hills for one day on December 29.

In a related development, Assam Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Monday (December 23) said that if the Centre decides against the implementation of nationwide NRC, then there should be a fresh NRC or revision of it in Assam.

Referring to the NRC list released in Assam, the senior BJP leader said that people of the state were unhappy with the NRC list released in Assam. "We are not happy with the National Register of Citizens (NRC) that has been released. If there is no national NRC then we have to have a fresh NRC or revision of it. We don`t accept the NRC which was published," Sarma told media.

Sarma said that it is necessary to re-verify around 20% names in the border districts of Assam and the people of the state will not accept the NRC list if this demand is not met. The BJP leader, however, remarked that people of Assam will respect the Supreme Court's order in this matter. "We want re-verification of 20 per cent of names in the border districts, without which we don`t want to accept the present NRC. But we will go as per Supreme Court`s order," he added.

Notably, the final NRC list for Assam was published on August 31 and a total of 3,11,21,004 persons were found eligible for inclusion in the list, while 19,06,657 persons failed to make it to the final list.

Meanwhile, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy said on Monday (December 23) that his government is against NRC and will not implement it in the state.Several other states including West Bengal, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Punjab, and Kerala have already stated their stand against the NRC and shied away from the implementation of the Citizens Amendment Act.