Shah again vows NRC... injustice done to Gorkhas will end soon- Shah

AVIJIT SINHA AND KOUSIK SEN, TT, 12 Apr 2019, Siliguri/ Raiganj: BJP chief Amit Shah on Thursday reiterated that NRC would be launched in Bengal if his party was elected back to power, dwelling on the theme at rallies in Kalimpong and Raiganj. 

"We will launch NRC in Bengal so that infiltrators would be identified and driven out of the state. On the other hand, all such refugees who are Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Parsis and Jains, would be conferred citizenship and that is why we want to bring in the citizenship amendment bill. Mamata Banerjee however, is opposing it," Shah said in Raiganj. 

To counter chief minister Mamata Banerjee's pitch against the NRC, Shah sought to reassure the Gorkhas that "they need not to worry". 

In recent years, Shah is the first national level leader of BJP who campaigned in the hills. The BJP had won the Darjeeling seat in the past two Lok Sabha polls. 

"Mamata Banerjee had resorted to oppression in the hills. In other parts of Bengal, her party cadres are attacking BJP workers and here, the Gorkhas are being tortured. We want to make it clear that the BJP stands firm with the Gorkhas and the injustice done to them will end soon," Shah said told a crowd of 4,000 odd in Kalimpong. 

In Darjeeling, BJP has fielded Raju Bista while S.S. Ahluwalia, the outgoing MP, has been given a ticket from the Burdwan-Durgapur seat. 

On Wednesday, Shah said: "If the Narendra Modi government comes to power, we will ensure the Gorkhas living in India are granted tribal status and we have mentioned it in our manifesto," said the BJP president. 

Referring to the tea sector, Shah drew comparisons between the BJP government of Assam and Trinamul's in Bengal. 

"Our government in Assam has come up with several assistances for the tea workers but here in Bengal, the tea workers and their families are living amid deplorable conditions." 

Later in Raiganj, Shah highlighted the Daribhit issue. "Two young workers of our party were killed by Mamata Banerjee's government as they protested imposition of Urdu in a school instead of Bengali," Shah said. 

The BJP chief claimed the two as "party workers", though they were former students of the Daribhit school whose families alleged they died in police firing. Shah's claim on the "Urdu imposition" is also unsubstantiated.