Bangla Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee launched a scathing attack against BJP president Amit Shah on the NRC issue on Tuesday.
Speaking at Nabanna, the state secretariat, she questioned the BJP chief and asked whether his parents had birth certificates.
The brutal attack came after Mamata Banerjee met a delegation from United Bengali Forum who had come from Assam to highlight their plight over the NRC issue.
“I want to ask Amit Shah, does his mother and father have birth certificates? If you ask me, I do not have my parent’s birth certificates. Would Swami Vivekananda have the certificates? Atal ji is ill now, so I cannot ask him, but I wish I could ask him whether he has all the certificates? One family can keep the record, not all. I belonged to a backward family, certificates were not maintained,” Mamata Banerjee said. She also said, “Would Gandhiji’s family have certificates?”
She went on to call the entire NRC exercise as politically motivated. “This is a political move ahead of the elections. Sometimes they (the Centre) will play India-Pakistan, sometimes they will play India-China. I am also hearing that they are getting the currency notes printed outside the country,” the CM alleged.
She alleged that Bengali-speaking population was being targeted. She claimed a majority of the 40 lakh who did not make it to the Assam draft list were a Bengali-speaking people.
“Of the total 40 lakh, 25 lakhs are Bengali Hindus, 13 lakhs Bengali Muslims and 2 lakh Nepalis, Biharis and others. I have shown you so many documents. People in Punjab and Pakistan speak the same language. People in Bengal and Bangladesh speak the same language. Isn’t Hindi and Urdu widely spoken in the country? If you do not like a particular community, you cannot spread hatred like this. Hasina ji (Bangla PM) is welcome, others not? Didn’t Bengal participate in the freedom struggle? What’s wrong in speaking the Bangla language?” she said.
She further said that even cows should now be given certificates to identify whether a cow is a refugee or an infiltrator. “My question is to all the Gau-rakshaks, is cow a refugee or an infiltrators. Make certificates for cows so that we know whether they are refugees or infiltrators. Amit Shah may not eat Hilsa fish. But people in Bangladesh, Bengal, UP and Bihar eat Hilsa fish. Is Hilsa a refugee or an infiltrator? This is super-emergency,” she claimed.