Didi shelter vow for `ousted'

MAIN UDDIN CHISTI, TT, 31 Oct 2018, Cooch Behar: Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday pledged shelter for those "evicted" from BJP ruled states like "Assam and Gujarat", with Trinamul sources saying the "saviour's" promise would boost her image as a national leader.

"If anybody faces any atrocity, whether a Bihari or a Bengali, please keep in mind that if there is none to help, Bengal will stand by them and provide shelter in its own way," Mamata said at a rally in Cooch Behar, 40km from the Assam border.

In Assam, 40 lakh people, most of them Bengali-speaking residents, have not made it to the final draft of the National Register of Citizens. Some of them have started arriving in Bengal. In Gujarat, hundreds of workers from the heartland states left recently after attacks.

In her speech, Mamata tried to distinguish Bengal from the two BJP-ruled states. "You have seen what has happened in Assam. Those making tall claims are in power in the state and at the Centre. They are trying to evict Bengalis from Assam. This does not happen in Bengal," Mamata said.

"We love Bengalis, Assamese, Biharis, refugees, minorities and all others. We love people, irrespective of the language they speak. In Assam, they have deleted the names of around 40 lakh people who are our brothers and sisters. People are committing suicide. In Gujarat, people from other states are being driven away. This will never happen in Bengal," she added.

The shelter promise -- which observers described as first of its kind by Mamata -- is seen as an indication that Trinamul will continue its opposition to the NRC in the run-up to the Lok Sabha elections due next year. The attacks in Gu- jarat are also likely to feature in the party's campaign.

"Instead of touching on local issues of Cooch Behar or north Bengal, she wanted to send a message to the BJP standing close to the Assam border. It seems she wants to drive home the point that she is a national leader with concerns beyond the state," said an observer.

According to the observer, Mamata had broached the issue to prevent the BJP from influencing voters in areas near the Assam border. "Several people with roots in Cooch Behar who stay in Assam have not found their names in the NRC. She is also aware that the BJP is focussing on the Cooch Behar seat and plans to bring in leaders from Assam for the campaign," an insider said.

Some local factors were at play, too. Trinamul has been plagued by infighting in Cooch Behar. "It (the shelter gesture) appears a strategy to draw at- tention to larger issues while stressing that people are safer in Bengal," the observer said.

Assam population jibe Junior railway minister Rajen Gohain claimed on Tuesday that a majority of Assam's districts had "turned Islamic".

"If we don't step in, it's a matter of time before Assam will turn into an Islamic state. An eight-year-old or a 10-yearold child in Bodoland does not speak Assamese. Hatred is creeping in. It is a serious problem. We have to take the help of all local communities, including Bodos, tea tribes and Bengalis, among others, to save our very existence," Gohain, an MP from Assam, said in Tinsukia.

"Language cannot be the only criterion; we cannot ignore religion. The demography of Assam is so volatile that without the help of Hindus, we cannot resist Muslim immigrants' aggression," Gohain said..