August 2, 2024
Mamata Thakur’s Zero Hour mention on the government’s duty to not force people to show separate citizenship proofs, especially those who already have documents giving voting rights
Respected Deputy Chairman Sir, thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak in Zero Hour. Sir, I want to speak in my mother tongue Bengali. The Olympics are still underway in France, where 117 athletes from India have participated, of them, 70 are men and 47 women athletes. No one has raised any question about their caste, caste, religion, language. They all play and are playing for the country. And, every Indian, every countryman is also a passionate supporter of their sport. This is the specialty of our country of special heritage, where we all stand by each other, be it sports, literature, art, science or whatever. In all fields of art-religion-language, ‘unity in diversity’ enriches and advances us. Therefore, the attempt to divide the common people of our country on the basis of religion, language, ethnicity, caste is never correct. It is not advisable to ask any of the citizens of the country to show proof of that identity on the basis of any condition. No condition should be imposed on any citizen to live peacefully in this country. We are, therefore, in favour of natural unconditional citizenship. We are not in favour of asking citizens to show any illusory, unreal paper for no reason. Those who already vote, who have some valid identity card, by showing which we vote and at times elect the Prime Minister of the country and the Chief Minister or the Government of different states, asking them to show a new paper or making them say ‘I am not a citizen, I want to become a citizen’ and making them apply for citizenship is very disrespectful. In the name of giving citizenship, imposing conditions on it, asking to submit various documents of ancestors and if they cannot submit, not granting citizenship, creating such situation and sending them to detention camps is terribly dishonorable. If you want to give any citizenship card to the citizens of the country, it must be given unconditionally. Asking for a paper, forcing them to fill out a form with wrong credentials is condemnable. I condemn the game that has been started with the issuance of that citizenship card by imposing conditions. The diversity of our country India is our pride. We should not impose any conditions or dishonour its people. The tradition of ‘unity in diversity’ of our country, India will be celebrated. None of us has the right to disrespect our brothers and sisters by asking them to show papers if they cannot give unconditional citizenship. Let us all live together and move forward. Jai Jai Sri Sri Harichand Guruchand Thakur’s Jai! Jai Bangla!
