GUWAHATI, Sept 14 - Trinamool Congress (TMC) has accused the ruling BJP of trying to bring about religious polarisation in society for the sake of political gains and added that the Mamata Banerjee-led party would stand by the people who are facing uncertainty after their names were left out of the draft NRC.
An office of the TMC was inaugurated in the city yesterday. Urban Development & Municipal Affairs Minister of West Bengal and senior TMC leader Firhad Hakim and West Bengal unit secretary of Trinamool Youth Congress Yasser Haider were present during the inauguration of the office.
Speaking to this newspaper today, Haider said BJP is trying to divide the people in the name of religion. �BJP is playing the religious card and engaging in the politics of religion. The party is well aware that the wave of 2014 is missing. It has failed to fulfil any of the promises made to the electorate. There has been one scam after another. Fuel prices have gone sky-high, while the Indian Rupee is daily becoming weaker against the US Dollar. So the BJP is getting apprehensive regarding the 2019 elections. So it wants to play the politics of polarisation,� said the TMC youth leader.
Regarding the NRC update process, he said TMC and the West Bengal government led by Mamata Banerjee were the first to stand up for people who are facing uncertainty after being left out of the draft NRC.
�People who have been living at a place for decades, who were born and brought up in Assam... and all of a sudden there is uncertainty about their very status as citizens. NRC has affected lakhs of people,� said Haider.
He also castigated the Sarbananda Sonowal-led government over the incident that took place last month at Silchar airport when some senior TMC leaders tried to visit the State after publication of the draft NRC.
�Our delegation comprising senior ministers and MPs was not allowed out of the Silchar airport. Our leaders were manhandled. That is not how people from other states are treated in our country. Do we need visas or passports to visit Assam?� Haider argued.
The TMC is also looking to expand its organisational base in Assam. It had recently suffered a major setback here after its State president Dwipen Pathak and many other senior leaders quit over the NRC issue.
However, a new working committee of TMC has been formed in Assam, which includes former Assam minister Gopi Nath Das.
