Urged PM Modi to withdraw CAA: Mamata Banerjee

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to withdraw the Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAA) during the meeting with him at Raj Bhavan in Kolkata on Saturday.

“I told him to ensure that no one has to face atrocities and urged him to rethink about CAA and NRC and we want it (CAA) to get withdrawn,” said Banerjee told reporters after the meeting.

Chief Minister also said that she had conveyed her reservation regarding the CAA, NRC and NPR and urged him to rethink about the issues.

“I have also told him that ‘since you are my guest here I am not sure whether I should tell you this, but even then I am saying that we are opposed to CAA, NPR and NRC. Agitation against the three is going on across the country. We want that there should not be any discrimination among the people of the country and no one has to leave the country,” said Banerjee.

Describing the meeting with the Prime Minister as her “constitutional duty” and a “matter of courtesy” Banerjee said that another reason for meeting him was that the Centre is yet to clear dues of about Rs. 28,000 crore to the West Bengal government.

“I have met the Prime Minister because the Centre owed the West Bengal government about Rs. 28,000 crore...The state is yet to get the due of Rs. 7,000 crore from the Centre regarding the damages caused by the cyclone Bulbul. I told him to ensure that the dues of the state are clear ” said Banerjee.

Banerjee also said that regarding the state government’s due from the Centre the Prime Minister told her that he will get back to her on the issue after going through documents.

“He said that he will get back (to me about the state’s dues) after going through documents and as for other issues he said that he is here to attend some programs. He also said that ‘If there is an opportunity we will speak in Delhi’,” said Banerjee.

Soon after the meeting Trinamool Congress issued a statement which quoting party MP Derek O’ Brien described the meeting as “government to government.”

Later during protest demonstration by TMC’s students’ wing TMCP the Chief Minister said that she still believes that the notification on CAA by the Centre will only be on paper and not implemented.

History written after Independence overlooked many key aspects: PM

The Prime Minister at a government program later in the day said that key aspects of Indian’s history were overlooked by historians who wrote it after Independence without probing deep into the subject.

“ Its unfortunate that key aspects of Indian history was overlooked by historians during the British era and even after Independence,” said Modi.

Referring to a work of Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore 1903 the Prime Minister pointed out that the poet had said that Indian history is not what the students read for examinations.

“ Some people who came from outside and killed our own people for capturing the throne...is not our history. This is what Tagore has said,” said Modi.

“ Centre has decided to make five iconic museums of the country of international standard starting with one of the oldest museums in the world the INdian Museum, Kolkata. Museums in Delhi, Chennai, Hyderabad, Srinagar are also being upgraded,” he added.