Continuing her attack against the BJP led-government at the Centre for amending the Citizenship Act, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee asked how a party formed in the 80s could ask for the proof of citizenship from people born in the 1950s, 60s, and 70s.
“Suddenly after 73 years of independence we have to prove that we are Indian citizens. Where was BJP’s head and tail at that time?” asked Banerjee during a protest today.
Banerjee has called for referendum on Citizenship Amendment Act to be conducted by UN “Let there be an impartial organisation like United Nations or Human Rights Commission form a committee to see how many people are in favour or against,” she said.
The Trinamool chief has been leading protests against the new citizenship law and the National Register of Citizens for the last four days across Kolkata.
The law has been described as “unconstituional” by opposition parties and Human Rights activists who claim that it excludes Muslims from being a part of the law that provides citizenship to refugees from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan.
Rebutting the BJP’s claim that only Muslims are protesting against the law, she said that the protests were spread across the country. She said, “This is not a Hindu-Muslim issue. This is a movement for the country. This is a struggle for restoring democracy”.
The Trinamool chief has already stalled the process of National Population Register, which is considered the first step before rolling out the citizens’ list, meant to weed out illegal migrants, across the country.
Massive protests were planned for the day where several activists, politicians and others were detained. The police used tear-gas and used force at certain locations to control the crowd.