'NRC is humanitarian crisis, not a issue of minorities'

Even as the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) is eager to project itself as the key force against the NRC, several minority organisations in the state, most of which support the TMC, have decided not to launch separate protests against the list.

They feel that holding protests against the NRC by projecting its adverse effect on Muslims will ultimately help the BJP's polarization tactics. They argued that the NRC in Assam had put not only Muslims but Hindus and other communities in jeopardy.

Speaking to DH, Muhammad Kamaruzzaman, the general secretary of the All Bengal Minority Youth Federation, said that the NRC in Assam had an adverse impact on the lives of people regardless of their religion and caste.

“We feel that regardless of religious affiliation, mainly poor and downtrodden have been impacted by NRC. Hence we will not hit the streets in protest against NRC as a minority organisation, as it would strengthen BJP’s polarisation tactics. We want to hold our protests against NRC as a humanitarian crisis, which is not confined to one community” said Kamaruzzaman.

“It is mainly Bengali speaking people who are put into jeopardy due NRC. So it will be logical to label the issue as limited to one particular community,” said Rafikul Hasan, a leader of the All Bengal Imam and Muezzin Association.

Working president Mukul Chandra Bairagya of All India Namasudra Vikash Parishad, an organisation of several Scheduled Caste communities, believes the impact of NRC will not be limited to one particular community and hence protests against it should also be held accordingly.

NRC has become a bone of contention between TMC and BJP. While TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee has vowed to oppose any attempt of holding NRC in Bengal tooth and nail, the state leadership of the saffron party is keen on making NRC its major poll plank for the next Assembly in 2021.

The West Bengal State Assembly has recently passed a resolution against NRC which was supported by TMC, Left Front and Congress and opposed by only BJP.