New Delhi, Sep 19 (UNI) Under attack for not raising the vexed NRC issue with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday took up the matter with Union Home Minister Amit Shah but tried to confine the matter vis-a-vis Assam chiefly.
"I have submitted a letter to Home Minister on the fate of 19 lakhs people excluded from Assam NRC,' Ms Banerjee told reporters trying to imply there was no reference to the controversy on NRC exercise in her state of west Bengal.
In fact, the Left leaders have questioned Ms Banerjee's silence on National Register of Citizens (NRC) exercise when she met the Prime Minister.
"Only a few days back, Ms Banerjee staged a street protest in Kolkata saying she will not allow NRC in Bengal, but when she met Prime Minister she did not raise the issue and later said NRC is only an issue for the state of Assam. Then why was she protesting over it in Kolkata?," asked CPI-M leader Sujan Chakraborty.
After her meeting with the Prime Minister, Ms Banerjee had said on Wednesday that the NRC issue did not figure in talks as it was only a matter for the state of Assam based on the agreement - the Assam Accord - signed in 1985.
But later Trinamool sources said Ms Banerjee told Home Minister that there was no logic for NRC exercise in West Bengal as is being propagated by a section of BJP leaders.
"With regard Assam and NRC exercise undertaken in the northeastern state, Mamata Didi pointed out that Hindi, Bengali and Gorkhali speaking people have been left of the exercise," a source told UNI.
Ms Banerjee also said her stand on the NRC in Bengal was the "same" as Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar as "we do not need NRC in these two states", the sources added.
However, sources maintained the issue of conducting NRC in Bengal in specific sense did not figure at the half-an-hour long meeting.
In her first meeting with Mr Shah, whom she had questioned once saying 'who is Amit Shah to speak about Bengal'; Ms Banerjee said - "lives of NRC affected people are uncertain".
"It was explained to Home Minister that as a Chief Minister of a border state sharing boundaries with Bangladesh, Bhutan and Nepal, it was her duty to speak on matters concerning such people," the Trinamool source said.
Ms Banerjee's meeting with Prime Minister Modi and Mr Shah came after the developments related to Saradha Chit fund case in which former Kolkata Police Commissioner Rajeev Kumar has come under the CBI scanner.
Trinamool detractors, including Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, have in last two days alleged that it was like a 'surrender' by a firebrand leader, who has been always trying to champion the cause anti-BJP politics in West Bengal and at the national level.
"It was a case of Mamata Banerjee looking to see a doctor, seeking his help and the senior doctor then deciding to send her to the junior doctor," Mr Chowdhury has said in reference to Ms Banerjee's decision to meet Mr Shah after her meeting with Prime Minister on Wednesday.
The Lok Sabha elections witnessed fiercest of contests between BJP and Trinamool and the rivalry was so intense that even Mr Shah's chopper was denied landing permission in Bengal during the height of election campaign.
UNI DEVN-RSA 1934