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Names excluded based on surname: Mamata Banerjee

She alleged that the government had not given a single thought about what would happen to refugees who would not be accepted by Bangladesh if they were now pushed back.

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Mamata Banerjee addresses a press conference over the final NRC draft of Assam, at Nabanna in Howrah on Monday
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West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee expressed her concern regarding the final draft of the NRC and said it was a 'Bengali Hatao' move or an attempt to drive out Bengalis from Assam. She attacked the Narendra Modi government saying that the NRC was politically motivated, and that people had been excluded looking at their surnames, in spite of them having valid papers.

She alleged that the government had not given a single thought about what would happen to refugees who would not be accepted by Bangladesh if they were now pushed back. "These people have become refugees in their own country. If they ask us for help we will definitely help them," she added.

"It has been said that those holding valid passports, licence issued by the government, employees of the state government or accounts at the post offices would help inclusion in the draft, but there are many who had been excluded in spite of having a valid Aadhaar card, PAN card or voter's ID. They had been excluded because of their surnames. And I am not only talking about Muslims. There are Hindus and non-Bengalis too. People who had been living there for 50 years, now suddenly find themselves out of the list," the CM said.

She also said, "Phone connection and internet have been snapped off. That is why we are unable to contact them. An additional 15 companies force have been deployed. I fear it is to force people out of the state."

Referring to the Centre's reasoning that it was being done under the instruction of the Supreme Court, Mamata said, "We have our respect for the court, but when the first order came to draw up the draft, why was the state quiet?

We had anticipated this before and had protested, but we didn't get the required support… An unnecessary provocation is being done in order to do vote-bank politics."

State BJP president Dilip Ghosh said that the matter was being politicised. "NRC is being carried out under the Supreme Court's order. The TMC and Congress are politicising the issue. If BJP comes to power in West Bengal, and NRC will be carried out here as well. Illegal Bangladeshi immigrants will be kicked out of here," he said.

Muslim organisations have come to the rescue of Bengalis in Assam. "This has been the agenda of BJP. They are trying to make Bengalis in Assam homeless. We have planned to put up a national legal forum to help the victims. Seminars would be put up at places like Kolkata, Delhi, Lucknow and Hyderabad among other places. We are also in touch with families in Assam which have been displaced," said Md Kamruzzaman, general secretary, All Bengal Minority Youth Federation.

Muhammed Nooruddin, president West Bengal chapter of Jamaat-e-Islami-Hind also echoed similar emotions. "We have formed a group comprising legal experts and social workers. They are helping people of Assam in procuring and submitting people who had been excluded from the draft to prove their citizenship. What the BJP government was doing was politically motivated," he said.

Allegations

She also alleged that phone connection and internet were snapped off and additional 15 companies of force were deployed to force people out of the state.

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