Kolkata: Hundreds of people lined up at government and municipal offices here and across West Bengal Tuesday to collect their birth certificates and necessary documents to be prepared should the National Register of Citizens (NRC) be implemented in the state despite assurances by the TMC government that it would not be allowed.
The omission of a large number of Bengalis from the final NRC list in the BJP-ruled Assam has apparently created panic among the people and has led to six deaths in the state so far.
Large queues were seen outside the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) headquarters and other division offices in the city, as well as, BDO offices in other parts of Bengal as people waited for their turn to search for land and other necessary documents.
Ajit Ray, a 75-year-old man, who was seen standing outside the KMC headquarters said, “I have come to the KMC office to collect my birth certificate as I had lost it long back. I have heard that we need to have our birth certificates to prove that we are citizens of this country in case NRC is implemented in Bengal.”
Bimal Mondal, 55, was seen standing outside the land records department of the KMC, in search of documents that show his parents procured land in Kolkata five decades ago.
In rural Bengal, a similar picture was witnessed outside various government and panchayat offices.
Khalque Mollah, 25, of South 24 Parganas district said, “What will we do if we are declared foreigners though we were born and brought up in this country? From where will I get documents of my father being born in this country?”
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According to government sources, six people have died so far in the districts. Two of them allegedly committed suicide after failing to procure old documents and four others died after falling ill while standing in queues with thousands of villagers at different government offices to get their documents.
More than 19 lakh people in Assam have been excluded from the recently published final NRC on August 31. According to unconfirmed estimates, around 12 lakh are expected to be Hindus.
Kolkata mayor and senior minister Firhad Hakim said, “We are requesting people not to panic at all. There will be no NRC in Bengal. The TMC government will never allow it. As long as the TMC government is in power, not a single person will be touched.”
West Bengal chief minister and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee on Monday accused the BJP of creating panic over the NRC and had iterated she will not allow the exercise in the state.
The BJP’s Bengal leadership has, however, blamed Banerjee and her party for creating a panic over the NRC in Bengal to instil fear.