The politics in West Bengal over National Register of Citizens is hotting up once again as in response to BJP’s NRC, WB Chief Minister Mamata promised regularisation of refugee colonies. Seeking to counter Prime Minister Narendra Modi government’s move to introduce a pan-India NRC, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee announced on Monday that attempts would be made to regularize all refugee colonies of up to three acres on state government, central government as well as private land and those living in these colonies would be given land rights.
In January this year, the Mamata government had given freehold land rights to residents of 94 refugee colonies which came up on state government land and had promised the same for another 237 colonies on private and central government land. West Bengal has a huge refugee population in its districts like North and South 24 Parganas, Kolkata and its suburbs, Nadia, Uttar Dinajpur, Coochbehar and Malda which share border with Bangladesh.
On Monday, Mamata told reporters after a meeting of her cabinet that “we have decided to regularize all the refugee settlements simply because it has been a long time now — nearly 48 years. Since (March) 1971, they have been left living without a home or land. I believe refugees have the right.”
According to Mamata, more than 13,000 and 12,000 families living on land owned by the state and central governments respectively would benefit from the decision. “There are several refugee colonies on land owned by the central government and private parties. For a long time now, we have been asking them to regularize these refugee colonies and provide them with land possession. However, they have been sending eviction notices instead,” she said.
“Those who are living in refugee colonies for a long time do not have any rights. So, we thought they should get the rights as citizens of this country. They may be voting in elections, may be working here, but don’t have proper land rights,” Mamata said.
She said “land rights will be given to refugees who have been living on such land for a long time. They have been living in Bengal for the last 48 years. The state government does not want to deprive them of their rights. Refugees who have been living in this country for 12 years are now citizens of this country,” she said.
On the other hand, Bharatiya Janata Party national secretary Rahul Sinha accused Mamata Banerjee of “misleading” people.
“First of all, the state government has no power or jurisdiction to transfer central government land to anyone. Second, it is trying to win over the refugees by making such announcements as it knows that once the central government brings in the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, the refugees will eventually get land rights. Third, our definition of refugees does not match with that of Trinamool Congress. They are including infiltrators under the category of refugees but we don’t include infiltrators as refugees,” he said.
While Mamata has opposed the NRC and CAB, the BJP has accused the Trinamool Congress of protecting illegal immigrants from Bangladesh as they are part of the party’s vote-bank. The Modi government plans to introduce the Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB), which seeks to give citizenship for non-Muslims from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan who were subjected religious persecution in those countries and took shelter in India, in the ongoing winter session of parliament.
Mamata has sought to tap apprehensions among large Hindu refugees in West Bengal in the wake of the exclusion of 12 lakh Hindus from the NRC in Assam three months ago. The BJP considers Hindus as its vote bank. The exclusion of Hindus in Assam NRC has put the BJP on the defensive which rejected that NRC and demanded a fresh NRC and prior to that the CAB so that those kept out of a new NRC whenever it is conducted across India.
Indian Home Minister Amit Shah told the Rajya Sabha, the upper House of parliament, that the NRC would be conducted across India and the exercise has to be repeated in Assam. When the West Bengal regularized the 94 refugee colonies in January, nearly 70,000 people had benefitted, Mamata had said at that time.
