Kolkata: Amid the stir over the National Register of Citizens (NRC) and Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to arrive in Kolkata on January 10 to attend the Kolkata Port Trust’s (KPT) event in the city.
This will be PM Modi’s first visit to West Bengal after it won 18 (out of 42) seats in the Lok Sabha elections. In his last visit to the state, Modi had addressed public rallies in South Dinajpore and in Nadia districts as he was canvassing for the saffron party.
Party insiders have claimed that a meeting between Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Modi is likely to take place during the PM’s one-day visit. “Both the leaders are likely to discuss various state-centre issues including the National Register of Citizens (NRC) and Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA),” a senior TMC leader said.
Earlier, on September 18, Banerjee met PM Modi after a gap of nearly 16 months at his 7, Lok Kalyan Marg residence. At the time, the Bengal CM had termed the meeting as a ‘non-political meet’ that was ‘very good’. Following this she had also met Union Home Minister Amit Shah for the very first time. The two had discussed several issues including the contentious NRC.
It is likely that Banerjee will request PM Modi to roll back the decision to implement NRC and CAA in India. BJP state vice-president, Joy Prakash Majundar, confirmed PM Modi’s January 10 visit and said, “A meeting with the senior state party leaders is also in the pipeline. He will also inaugurate a new jetty in Haldia, but it is too early to say anything.”
PM Modi is likely to inquire about the situation in Bengal where protests have been raging against the Centre’s decision to implement NRC and CAA. PM Modi’s Kolkata visit comes at a crucial time as several more protest rallies are being planned by the ruling Trinamool Congress party and students of several colleges.
Banerjee has already announced that she will fight against NRC and CAA and further stayed work on the recently announced National Population Register, which several speculate will be used NRC exercise.
“We opposed Centre’s decision to implement the NRC, CAA. Why do we need to prove that we are Indians? My party workers will protest against the NRC in each and every block. We are in favour of all religions. We respect people from all caste and creed. We don’t discriminate against people based on their religion. NRC is based on religion and therefore we will not support this,” she had said.
Her reaction came after Union Home Minister Amit Shah had said that Modi government would implement the NRC all over the country and “throw out infiltrators” from every inch of India before the 2024 general election.
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