KOLKATA: Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday launched a scathing attack against the Assam government accusing it of harassing a resident of Cooch Behar in West Bengal by branding the latter as an infiltrator.
"I am shocked and deeply disturbed to learn that the Foreigners Tribunal in Assam has issued an NRC notice to Uttam Kumar Brajabasi, a Rajbanshi, resident of Dinhata in Cooch Behar for over 50 years. Despite furnishing valid identity documents, he is being harassed on suspicion of being a "foreigner/illegal migrant, " the Chief Minister said in a statement posted on the wall of her official X handle on Tuesday morning.
In her statement, the Chief Minister described this development as a "systematic assault on democracy and proof that the ruling BJP dispensation in Assam was attempting to implement NRC in Bengal".
"A premeditated attempt is being made to intimidate, disenfranchise, and target marginalised communities. This unconstitutional overreach is anti-people, and exposes BJP's dangerous agenda of bulldozing democratic safeguards and erasing the identity of Bengal's people, " the Chief Minister added.