Amit Shah may visit West Bengal on 11 August: Decision comes day after war of words with Mamata over NRC issue in Assam

BJP president Amit Shah is set to visit West Bengal on 11 August, ANI reported, even as politicians continued to spar over the final draft of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam. West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s scathing criticism of the BJP leadership came on Tuesday when she said that the saffron party is attempting to start a 'civil war' of sorts by not accounting for 40 lakh people in Assam who were missing from the NRC list. On Tuesday, the BJP and Opposition engaged in a war of words over the NRC issue in Parliament. In the Rajya Sabha, Shah claimed that the process of updating the NRC was in accord with the spirit of the Assam Accord, which the previous Congress governments “did not have the courage” to do; it had been left to his party and the NDA government to complete the job. [caption id=“attachment_4866751” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File photo of BJP president Amit Shah. Twitter@AmitShah[/caption] In response, Opposition leaders, including those from the Trinamool Congress and the Congress, protested vociferously. Derek O’Brien and Ghulam Nabi Azad demanded that the agenda for the day in the Upper House of Parliament be set aside to discuss the NRC issue. Later on Tuesday, Mamata said, “The NRC is being done with a political motive. We will not let this happen. They (BJP) are trying to divide the people. The situation cannot be tolerated. There will be a civil war, blood bath in the country.” She said that even the names of family members of former president Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed have not been included in the NRC. The Trinamool Congress also dared the BJP to try implementing NRC in West Bengal and said it can never come to power in the state. “The BJP has the audacity to say that they would implement NRC in Bengal and thinks only they and their supporters would stay in India and rest will have to leave the country,” she said. Referring to statements which said that what had started in Assam, would be taken to West Bengal as well, Mamata said she would never allow it. Asserting that the present situation cannot go on, Mamata said she would continue voicing her opposition against the ruling party. She appealed to the all communities to build up a momentum against the decision of the government. “No one can give us direction. This is not the politics of India. Indian politics is about tolerance,” she said. The massive Supreme Court-monitored exercise to identify genuine Indian nationals living in Assam excluded over 40 lakh people from the final draft list.   On Monday, with the release of the much-anticipated second and final draft of the NRC, Banerjee had claimed that Bengalis and Biharis living in Assam were being targeted, and said that they are “Indians, not Rohingya”. “How can they send women and children to detention centres? Aren’t people from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and other states living in Bengal? Bengalis living in Assam are being targetted. They are not Rohingyas, they are Indians?” she said. Amit Shah responded on Tuesday saying that Mamata Banerjee is the one who is playing vote bank politics and she should make her stand clear on the immigrant issue. “The Congress had earlier agreed that Bangladeshi immigrants need to be sent back. I want to tell Mamata Banerjee that it is she who is trying to play vote bank politics,” he said. With inputs from agencies