The final draft of the National Register of Citizens is being updated in Assam to identify the citizens of the country and to weed out the illegal Bangladeshis. Mamata Banerjee and Trinamool Congress (TMC), not so shockingly led the handful of people who have openly chosen to speak against the one of its kind NRC. Loss in her vote banks, minority appeasement whatever one might want to term it she had seemed to be unperturbed at first, but now the voices of dissent seem to have begun from even inside the ranks of TMC. Assam TMC president Dwipen Pathak resigned from his post on Thursday. He reportedly was unhappy with party chief Mamata Banerjee’s stand over the NRC issue in Assam. Pathak alleged that Mamata Banerjee was misleading the nation over the issue by spreading rumours. After the resignation, he also blamed Mamata of politicising the issue as she had never taken interest in matters related to Assam in the past.
Assam TMC president resigned after a delegation sent by Mamata to Assam created ruckus at the Kumbhirgram airport in Silchar on Thursday. The delegation sent by the TMC chief consisted of six Member of Parliaments and two MLAs who became party to a scuffle with the police. The police personnel had at first tried to stop them from leaving the airport owing to Section 144 which was in force in the entire district. The unruly lawmakers from TMC though had something else in mind as they ran helter-skelter and the women got into a tussle with the female personnel at the airport. Mamata had tried to gain political mileage from the situation and create unrest in the state by stating, “There is a super emergency in Assam. They don’t want us to talk to people,”
Her attempt seems to have backfired on the TMC chief as the ordinary citizens of India seem to have welcomed the idea of NRC which will drive out illegal Bangladeshis from the country. Pathak criticized Mamata for giving statements that the NRC was being updated to drive out Bengalis and Biharis from Assam. He said, “What Mamata Banerjee said about NRC, that it has been brought in Assam to drive out Bengalis, I don’t agree with that. It might create disturbance here and the blame would be on me as a president, so I have resigned.” The party president and ex-MLA from Hajo constituency of Assam who had been part of the Assam assembly till 2016 is not the only one from TMC cadres to quit the party. Diganta Saikia and Pradeep Pachoni, two more leaders from the TMC have quit the party owing to the remarks made by Mamata. Both the leaders said that Mamata had spoken over the issue ‘without any knowledge’.
This shows the level of dissent which has set in the cadres of the party from the inside, this also explains how important the NRC final draft is for the people of the state of Assam. BJP president in West Bengal had already mentioned that if the party came to power in Bengal it would ensure a NRC draft there too. This statement had gained widespread acceptance in Bengal and the people seem to have come behind the BJP like never before in the state. These types of reactions from the people are sure to boost the morale of BJP which is looking to rid India of the burden of illegal Bangladeshis in the near future.
