NRC, NPR will not be allowed to be implemented in West Bengal: Mamata Banerjee

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee today said her government will not allow implementation of the controversial National Register of Citizens (NRC) or National Population Register (NPR) in the state.

Maintaining that all the residents of the state are citizens of India and no one can change that, she accused the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of trying to play "divisive politics" using the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).

Addressing a public meeting in Bongaon in North 24 Parganas district bordering Bangladesh, Mamata said "I, as the Chief Minister, say that you are citizens of India and no one can change that. We will not allow NRC or NPR to happen in the state."

Her remarks on the NRC and CAA came a few days after BJP national General Secretary in-charge of West Bengal Kailash Vijayvargiya and the party's Vice President Mukul Roy had said CAA was likely to be implemented from January next year, as the Indian government is keen on granting citizenship to the large refugee population in West Bengal.

The CAA seeks to give Indian citizenship to "persecuted" non-Muslim nationals from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan who migrated to India till 2014.

Wooing the Matua community who are originally from erstwhile East Pakistan and hold considerable sway over a number of Assembly constituencies in North 24 Parganas and neighbouring Nadia district, Mamata said that a slew of development programmes have been taken up for the community.

West Bengal is due for fresh assembly elections early next year.

Mamata said "we will not allow Bengal to be turned into Gujarat" and charged the BJP with destroying the country through its "divisive politics."

Vijayvargiya had, on Saturday, accused the Mamata government of not being sympathetic to the cause of the refugees.

"We are hopeful that the process of granting citizenship to refugees under the CAA will begin from January next year," he had told reporters in Barasat.

"The Centre has passed the CAA with the honest intention of granting citizenship to persecuted refugees coming to our country from neighbouring nations," he added.

Reacting to Vijayvargiya's comment, senior Trinamool Congress and state minister Firhad Hakim had said that the BJP is trying to fool the people of West Bengal.

"What does the BJP mean by citizenship? If the Matuas are not citizens, how come they voted in assembly and parliamentary polls year after year? " he said.