West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee took a jibe on BJP-led government at the Centre of allegedly being "anti-Bengalis" and "anti-West Bengal" over the exclusion of 40 lakh people in the final draft of Assam NRC.
The Trinamool Congress Chief slamming BJP asked if hilsa fish, Jamdani saree, sandesh and mishti doi, which are originally from Bangladesh, would also be branded as "infiltrators or refugees".
Banerjee asserted that these 40 lakh people are "very much Indians" and questioned the criteria based on which they have been excluded.
Banerjee said that even she would not be able to produce the birth certificate of her parents if the government asks for it.
Speaking to the media at her chamber in the state assembly, she said, "Do not know my parents' birth dates. I only know the dates of their death. I would not be able to provide any documents for their date of birth but there should be a clear system about such cases…you cannot blame the layman".
Banerjee has been attacking the BJP government at the Centre over National Register for Citizens (NRC) which has excluded names of over 40 lakh citizens in the final draft for want of necessary documents in Assam.
"What is going on in the country is injustice. The BJP with their extremist ideology is trying to create division among the people. I think they are playing the politics of revenge among the countrymen. We are not for this kind of politics," she said.
"They (the BJP) must not forget that speaking Bengali is not a crime. It is the fifth most spoken language in the world. What is BJP's problem with (West) Bengal. Are they scared of the intellect of the Bengalis, their culture. They must not forget that (West) Bengal is the cultural mecca of the country," she said.
The TMC Chief further alleged, "the culture practised by them does not have any respect for people speaking Hindi, Bengali, Maratha and the South Indian (languages)".
