West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee continued her protest march for the third consecutive day against the National Register of Citizens (NRC) and the newly amended Citizenship Act that was passed last week.
At today’s rally, Banerjee took a jibe at Home Minister Amit Shah saying you have done “sabka sarvanash (destroyed all).
“You (Amit Shah) are the Home Minister of the country. You aren’t only a BJP leader, please maintain peace in the country. You have not done ‘sabka saath, sabka vikas‘ (Development for all) but ‘sabka sarvanash‘,” she said during her march that started from Howrah Maidan to Esplanade in Kolkata.
She also questioned why the BJP was demanding birth certificates to determine an individual’s citizenship. “You say no one will lose citizenship. But now you say no PAN, no Aadhaar, nothing will work… Then what will work? An amulet from the BJP? The BJP has become a washing machine,” she added.
Thousands of protesters, including students, women, and folk artistes joined her. A Baul song was also performed by the folk artists as a sign of cultural protest during the rally.
Mamata Banerjee, along with Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh has refused to implement the citizenship law in her state.
The Trinamool chief has already stalled the process of National Population Register, which is considered the first step before rolling out the citizens’ list across the country that’s meant to weed out illegal migrants.
West Bengal Governor Jadgeep Dhankar accused Banerjee of fueling violence against the law instead of controlling the protests happening across the state.
After the State Director General of Police and the Chief Secretary ignored the Governor’s summons, he tweeted Mamata Banerjee to personally update him on the situation.
In her response to Governor Dhankhar, Banerjee expressed shock over his constant criticism of her government.
“I am really sorry to see your frequent tweets and press briefings criticising the state government and also involving the senior officers of the state,” she said.
“You would no doubt appreciate that the prime focus of the state administration at present is to maintain peaceful situation as against what is going throughout the country,” she wrote to Dhankhar.
As the war of words continued between the two, Dhankar hit back, “Your reflections are far from fact situations and would urge you to engage in soul searching. I seek to remind you that I have all throughout taken steps in consonance with the Constitution and with respect to the present unfortunate crisis in which the State has landed. I have numerously appealed to the people and the Government to do their utmost to maintain peace, avoid violence and adhere to the Rule of Law.”
The new Citizenship Act seeks to give Indian citizenship to non-Muslims from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh who moved to India before December 31, 2014 after facing religious persecution.
The opposition parties have described the law as “discriminatory” and anti-Muslims. Massive protests erupted across the country after the passage of the contentious Bill. The President’s assent was followed by at least 60 petitions in the Supreme Court challenging the constitutionality of the act.
Several opposition leaders met President Ram Nath Kovind on Tuesday to demand its immediate withdrawal.