NEW DELHI: West Bengal chief minister and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee’s first move to speak out vehemently against the Centre’s national register for citizens ( NRC ) in Assam, was escalated to a new pitch on Thursday with eleven (11) opposition parties including Congress, taking the issue to Rashtrapati Bhawan where they submitted a joint memorandum to President Ram Nath Kovind, and sought his intervention in the matter.

Congress, which had seemed cautious in treading into the issue last week, when Banerjee raised it during her visit here, was clearly on board on Thursday, as party’s senior MP Anand Sharma was a signatory to the memorandum and was part of the 12-member delegation to the Rashtrapati Bhawan.

Banerjee had met Congress president Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi last week, apart from 14 other party leaders and spoken to all of them to support the move to oppose the manner in which the NRC was carried out in Assam. While Bengal is likely to be the worst hit if people from Assam are pushed out, Banerjee raised the issue that all other states would also suffer if a divide is created through the NRC among citizens of the country.

With other parties joining the initiative against the NRC taken by Banerjee, the TMC chief has once again emerged as the most crucial mover and binding force in holding the Opposition together in its unity move against the ruling BJP.

A delegation of opposition parties, including Congress, TMC and the Left, urged President Kovind to ensure that not a single Indian citizen was excluded from the NRC in Assam. A memorandum submitted by the delegation to Kovind accused the government of undermining the nation's democratic and secular values and alleged that the draft NRC had resulted in the exclusion of 40 lakh Indians.

It accused the government of spreading misleading statements against the Supreme Court over the NRC issue. The memorandum claimed that NRC had resulted in the exclusion of over 40 lakh Indian citizens, including Bengalis, Assamese, Rajasthanis, Marwaris, Biharis, Gorkhas, Punjabis, people from Uttar Pradesh and the southern states and tribals, who have been residents of Assam for long.

The aftermath of the NRC 2018 was an example of the ruling dispensation threatening and attempting to ruin the country's great institutions like the Constitution, Parliament, the judiciary and the media, it alleged.

“As the custodian of these great institutions, we appeal and urge upon you to ensure that not a single Indian citizen is excluded from the NRC list in Assam,” it added.

The delegation included Anand Sharma of the Congress, Sudip Bandyopadhyay of the TMC, Mohammad Salim of the CPI(M), H D Deve Gowda of the JD(S), Y S Chowdhary of the TDP and Sanjay Singh of the AAP among others.

