Shah polishes NRC plank .... BJP chief dares rivals to spell out stand on illegal settlers

Amit Shah in Calcutta on Saturday. (Pradip Sanyal) 

Sandip Chowdhury, TT,  Aug 12, 2018, Calcutta: BJP chief Amit Shah reiterated the party's commitment to the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam to weed out "illegal Bangladeshi infiltrators", the resolve suggesting the divisive issue would be the campaign theme for next year's Lok Sabha polls.

"Why is Mamata Banerjee protecting Bangladeshi infiltrators?" Shah asked at a rally in Calcutta, referring to the Bengal chief minister who has taken the lead in opposing the NRC.

"You can oppose us as much as you want but we will not stall the process of the NRC. Neither Mamatadi nor Congress chief Rahul Gandhi can stop the BJP from doing it," Shah added.

Much of his 26-minute speech was devoted to the NRC and how Mamata's opposition to it was part of her strategy to protect "illegal Bangladeshi infiltrators" in the country for political gains.

The publication of the final draft of the NRC on July 30, which excluded over 40 lakh residents of Assam out of the state's population of 3.2 crore, has intensified the acrimony between Trinamul and the BJP. Both have accused each other of engaging in "vote bank politics" over the list.

Last week, Trinamul MPs interrupted Shah in Parliament whenever he rose to speak on the NRC. In Calcutta on Saturday, Shah tried to settle the score as he launched a vitriolic attack on the ruling party by ticking all boxes - from Saradha to Narada scams, corruption, existence of syndicate and Mamata's minority appeasement for votebank politics.

"If you want to see a developed Bengal, we have to stop illegal infiltration. Our victories in 19 states will mean nothing if our chariot of victory has to stop outside Bengal's borders," Shah said.

He then asked the audience - "Shouldn't Bangladeshi immigrants be thrown out?" - and got a collective "aye" in response.

The state unit of the BJP has been demanding NRC for Bengal as well since the Assam list started a debate. "The NRC issue will bring rich dividends," said a state BJP leader.

Sticking to the BJP's agenda, Shah chose to distinguish between non-Muslim refugees and others. "Our government has introduced the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016, to provide citizenship to all refugees from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh belonging to Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism and Christianity," Shah said.

While the BJP camp was happy with Saturday's rally - the turnout estimates ranged from the BJP's 2.5 lakh to police's 35,000 - as it set the tone for the 2019 Lok Sabha poll campaign, some wondered whether the divisive agenda would help.

"The divisive card is unlikely to result in major electoral gains because of the demography of Bengal with nearly 30 per cent Muslim voters," said political scientist Biswanath Chakraborty.