Mamata slams Modi government over NRC, warns of civil war
New Delhi, July 31 : West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday attacked the Narendra Modi government over the NRC in Assam, saying people are being victimised to win elections and it would lead to a bloodbath and civil war.
Addressing a conclave by the Catholic Bishops' Conference of India here, Banerjee took several digs at the Modi-led Central government and accused it of interfering with the judiciary.
She alleged that names of people having valid documents were not included in the National Register of Citizens (NRC) and the exercise was being carried out with a political motive which will be opposed.
Banerjee also accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of trying to divide people. "The situation cannot be tolerated. There will be a civil war, bloodbath in the country," Banerjee said.
Over 40 lakh people were excluded in the final draft list of the NRC released on Monday (July 30).
"What is going on and what can be, it is more alarming. Only to win the election, only to win the battle, people cannot be victimised. Now they say these people cannot vote also. If they don't vote, if their list doesn't exist, don't you think they will lose their identity," Banerjee said.
"Where they will get food, how they will go to school. How they will go for employment, nobody will allow them. Nobody will allow them to go to office. Where will they go, where their children will go. We will not let them die. We want they should survive," she added.
The Trinamool Congress leader said whoever came from Bangladesh up to March 1971 "is very much an Indian citizen".
She said there were also people from Bihar, Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu whose names are not in the NRC. The Trinamool Congress leader said the name of a family member of former President Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed was not in the final draft of the NRC.
She accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of being a megalomaniac. "We know India is a secular country. But only I came in power for a few years and I will destroy everything, it cannot be. It is like being megalomaniac," she said.
"I am saying with heavy heart, this situation cannot continue. The judiciary, you know how they interfere. In every institution, you cannot work impartially."
She also referred to St. Stephens College cancelling an address by her and took a dig at the BJP.
"I don't know whether you got threatening or not... that's why Mamata Banerjee is coming. I do not know. Wherever I am going, they are cancelling the programme. I don't mind. Because they think that convention hall is enough for me. For me, the road is better. I can go to the road and meet people," she said.
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Death toll from Israeli strikes in northeast Lebanon rises from 8 to 24, Lebanese news agency says
Deir al-Balah, Nov 1: Israeli airstrikes on Friday killed at least 24 people in northeastern Lebanon, the country's news agency said, raising the death toll from eight there.
It was the latest deadly toll in the area since the conflict between Israel and the Lebanese group Hezbollah escalated last month.
Israel's military has said that its operation in Lebanon is targeting Hezbollah's military infrastructure.
Lebanon's state National news Agency reported four airstrikes in different villages across country's northeast, saying rescuers were still searching for survivors in Younine, a town in the Bekaa Valley, from the rubble of a targeted house.
Hussein Haj Hassan, a Lebanese lawmaker representing the region in Baalbek-Hermel region, said that 60,000 people have already fled their homes in the area due to Israeli bombardment.
