The West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is at it again with her rant against the National Register of Citizens (NRC), this time around she is taking it a notch further by urging her special followers to get their voter IDs done before NRC storm hits Bengal. Speaking at a programme in West Bengal’s Mallaguri, Banerjee said,“There will be no NRC implementation in West Bengal. We will not allow any division among the people of the state. Do not be worried. Be rest assured we are your custodians.” She also said that those who have turned 18 should immediately enroll themselves in voters’ list, clearly looking to legitimise the illegal migrants and turning them into her vote bank. By opposing the NRC exercise, TMC has created a solid vote bank for itself which is continuously increasing due to the illegal influx.
She was reiterating her point that she would never allow the implementation of NRC in Bengal by saying that every person living in this state is a citizen of India. Didi was on a rampage when she tried to invoke Bengali pride by saying that the people of this state have earned their right to be called Indian citizens through their participation in freedom struggle and contribution to Bengal renaissance. Somebody needs to sit down Mamata and ask her, what contribution the illegal migrants have had in India’s freedom struggle. Didi has always been vocal against the NRC exercise, recently conducted in the neighbouring state of Assam, opposing it with her all might and whilst describing it as a ploy of the BJP- led Modi government to disparage her and the illegal migrants which have become so near and dear to her (read: Vote bank).
Opposition to NRC in the state fits perfectly into Mamata’s self-styled narrative of being the lone-savior of Muslims and also helps her in trying to portray the BJP as a party which is trying to identify and deport poor Bengali Muslims. NRC fares right at the top in TMC’s scheme of things in the state and it aptly explains the TMC’s honcho’s staunch opposition to NRC. Last year, the TMC supremo had gone on record to say, “The NRC is being done with a political motive. We will not let this happen. They (BJP) are trying to divide the people. The situation cannot be tolerated. There will be a civil war, bloodbath in the country.”
It should not come as a surprise to many that Mamata is going on full offense in her vehement opposition of the NRC exercise as BJP has been continuously making inroads in the politically-charged landscape of West Bengal. The BJP had announced its presence in the state with a solid performance in the 2019 General Elections, winning 18 seats compared to ruling TMC’s 22, which was considerably down from the last LS election where it had mustered 34 seats. The serious dip in the number of seats has made Mamata uneasy and opposing NRC is her standard gag-reflex to arrest the slide.
She has been the face of minority appeasement in the state of West Bengal and has made NRC a central issue of her narrative in line with her appeasement policies. The ‘Bangladeshi’ immigrants also translate into a prolific vote bank.
It is relevant to mention here that though the Bangladeshi immigrants are not lawful citizens of India, there have been reports about such immigrants procuring fake Voter ID cards and therefore such immigrants might even exercise voting rights illegally.
And now Mamata has advised them to enroll themselves into the voter’s list, thereby making them indistinguishable from the native citizens of the state.
Recently, National Investigation Agency (NIA) Director-General Yogesh Chander Modi had said that the Bangladeshi terror outfit Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen (JuM) was now expanding its area of operation and nefarious terror activities in India under the disguise of Bangladeshi immigrants, so the fact that Mamata is openly supporting such illegal elements of the society, it does not augur well if she has anything moral left in her than gunning for power and rueing the BJP for bringing an exercise that might help the country in getting rid of such non-state elements.
It is ironical how it was Mamata Banerjee who had flagged the issue of Bangladeshi immigrants for the first time in Parliament. In 2005, she had stated in the Lok Sabha, “The infiltration in Bengal has become a disaster now, I have both the Bangladeshi & the Indian voters list. This is a very serious matter. I would like to know when would it be discussed in the House?”
If NRC was to be implemented in West Bengal and the ‘aliens’ were to be driven out, TMC would be the biggest sore loser in the political context of the state as Didi would end up losing a loyal vote bank that has been created out if its strong opposition to any NRC like exercise in the state. The fact remains that while the BJP’s focus has been on raising the issue of Mamata’s appeasement politics in the state, the West Bengal CM has been trying to portray herself as the saviour of the Muslims.
Territory and citizens are the two most important aspects of a sovereign State. The principal duty of any government is to defend the borders of the country, prevent any trespass and make the life of its citizens safe and secure and it is something which the Prime Minister Modi led NDA is trying to achieve but the continuous bickering and opposition by someone like Mamata to push her ‘appeasement politics’ is not making things any easier.