West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday said all those who came to India from Bangladesh and voted in elections are citizens and don’t need to apply afresh for citizenship.
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“Those who have come to India from Bangladesh are all Indian citizens, they have citizenship. Where is the need to give new citizenship? They have been voting in one election after another... electing Prime Ministers and Chief Ministers and then it is said they are not citizens...no need to believe them,” Ms. Banerjee said at a rally at Kaliaganj in the Uttar Dinajpur district. Asserting that there is no need for residents to apply for citizenship again, she said she will not allow even one person to be driven out of Bengal.
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“None of the refugees living in the State will lose their citizenship,” she said. Ms. Banerjee and her Trinamool Congress have been opposing the Citizenship (Amendment) Act with the slogan Amra Sobai Nagarik (We are all citizens). The Trinamool Congress chairperson touched the Delhi violence and came down on the Narendra Modi government on handling it.
“I am sad what happened in Delhi. So many people have been killed…I will never allow any repetition of the Delhi happenings in Bengal. One should not forget this is not Delhi but Bengal,” she said. On Monday, she had called the violence in Delhi as a “planned genocide”.
