Bengal minority forum demands immediate withdrawal of Assam NRC

Kolkata : A West Bengal-based minority organisation on Thursday took out a rally in the city protesting against the publication of National Register of Citizens in Assam, accusing the BJP government in that state of deliberately excluding the name of Muslims from the draft.

The agitators also accused the Assam government of discriminating against the Bengali-speaking people there in a bid to drive them out from the state. It demanded immediate withdrawal of the NRC exercise.

"The Assam NRC is a ploy of the BJP to take away the citizenship of the Muslims, in spite of them being Indian citizens. BJP knows that they won't get any votes from them so they are trying to take away their rights. We want this NRC (exercise) to be withdrawn," said Mohammad Kamruzzaman, secretary of the West Bengal Minority Youth Federation.

Reiterating the claims of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, Kamaruzzuman said the documentation process of NRC is impractical.