Continuing with her opposition to the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday said she would not allow detention centres to be set up in the State.
Ms. Banerjee also said that her government will not allow updation of the National Population Register (NPR).
“They are saying that there will be detention camps. We are in government here in Bengal. As long as I am alive, there will be no detention centre in the State,” Ms. Banerjee said while participating in an event in North 24 Parganas district.
Giving an assurance that the people who came to India during Partition or during the 1971 war of liberation of Bangladesh are all citizens, the Chief Minister said nobody will have to leave West Bengal or the country.
‘NPR process changed’
Speaking on the issue of NPR, Ms. Banerjee said earlier she had agreed to the exercise. “Later, I came to know that they have changed the entire process. Anything for which the people have to suffer, neither I, nor my government will do it,” she said. She, however, did not elaborate on what changes have been brought in the NPR exercise. A communication by the Home and Hill Affairs Department of West Bengal government on December 16, 2019 stated that it has “stayed all activities regarding the preparation/updation of NPR”.
Earlier in the day, Ms. Banerjee released a poem on social media composed by her against the CAA and the National Regidster of Citizens. The poem in Bengali titled ‘Adhikar (right)’, is critical of the current state of affairs in the country.
“Ami to e deshtake chini na/ Ami to eikhane janmaini/ Ami jonmechi Bharatbarshe/ Bibhed korte sikhi ni (I do not know this land, I was not born here. I was born in India, I never learnt how to divide),” the poem states.
