The controversial National Register of Citizens (NRC) exercise in Assam has become a political hot potato in neighbouring West Bengal.
The TMC, Left and Congress are also expected to come together and pass a resolution against NRC in the West Bengal Legislative Assembly. Opposing the move by the three parties, the BJP has claimed, in trademark fashion, “If they are opposing the NRC, then they are working against the interests of the country.”
Upping the ante, West Bengal BJP president Dilip Ghosh has repeated the saffron party’s promise that if they come to power in the 2021 election, ‘it will be time for NRC in the state.’
Sources close to Mamata say that Prashant Kishor, her political strategist for the 2021 Assembly polls, has advised the TMC chief to keep her distance from communally polarising issues, which he feels would be playing into the BJP’s agenda.
Mamata’s strategy in opposing the NRC is, therefore, not going to be primed on claims that Muslims are being targeted through the NRC exercise. Sources say that she will instead try to portray the NRC as a botched up operation that unfairly targeted Bengalis, both Hindus and Muslims. The thrust of her messaging is likely to be as follows:
In fact, Kishor’s own tweet on the NRC is a good reference point for Mamata’s likely anti-NRC strategy. Ironically enough, Kishor is a senior JDU leader and as such, a BJP ally.
BJP leaders in Bengal have repeatedly claimed that the party will implement NRC in the state post 2021. However, as BJP leaders in Assam seem to be realising now, a staunch pro-NRC position might not place them in an ideal situation with their constituents.
For example, Assam BJP MLA Dilip Kumar Paul has criticised the NRC implementation by saying, “A major portion of Hindus have been excluded from the list. BJP's stand is that Hindus can never be foreigners. Those who are foreigners became Indians and those who are Indians became foreigners. We will not accept it.”
A significant number of Bengali Hindus featuring on the final NRC list is not music to the BJP’s ears because the community is a loyal voter base of the saffron party in Assam.
Therefore, if the BJP is indeed going to trumpet a likely NRC in Bengal as an increasingly important poll issue for 2021, they will need to assuage these fears. And news of botch ups in Assam might make that a difficult task for them indeed.
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