National Register of Citizens a conspiracy to expel Bengalis from Assam: Mamata

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Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday claimed the updating of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam to determine the state`s original inhabitants is a conspiracy to drive away Bengalis from there.

She also urged her party MPs to stage a protest demonstration on the issue outside the Parliament on Thursday.

"Look at Assam. `Bangali Khedao` (expell the Bengalis) is going on there. There is a conspiracy in Assam to drive away the people who are staying there for the last 30-40 years. 1.25 crore people might be driven away from there in the name of the Citizenship Act," Banerjee said comparing the NRC with 1960s `Bongal Kheda` ethnic cleansing movement in Assam that drove away nearly 50,000 Bengalis from there.

"I urge the Trinamool Congress MPs to demonstrate under the Gandhi statute outside the parliament in Delhi," she said while addressing a public meeting in West Bengal`s Birbhum district.

Stating that the people of the country has the right to stay in any state they choose to, Banerjee warned the BJP government in Assam not to play with fire by practising the `divide and rule` policy.

"The people are being threatened to beaten away from there. I want to clearly tell the BJP government not to play with fire. Do not stoke fire of unrest in the entire nation. do not divide and rule. Try to maintain peace," she said.

The Trinamool supremo said she and her party will take strong steps if people are forced to leave their habitats due to NRC.

"If people are affected. Whether they are Bengalis, Gujratis, Marathis; whether they belong to scheduled caste or general caste - we will not let the people responsible off the hook easily," Banerjee warned.

"If anyone from Assam stays in Bengal we will protect them, similarly the Bengalis staying in Assam also have to be embraced," she added.