Kolkata. Union Home Minister Amit Shah said on Tuesday that the Center would expand the National Register of Citizens to West Bengal, but before that a Citizenship (Amendment) Bill would be passed to grant Indian citizenship to all Hindu, Sikh, Jain and Buddhist refugees.
Addressing a seminar on the disputed NRC, which is confined to Assam, Shah said that the ruling TMC of West Bengal was misleading people about the citizenship role. He said that the people of Bengal are being misled about NRC … I assure all Hindu, Buddhist, Sikh, Jain refugees that they will not have to leave the country, they will get Indian citizenship and an Indian citizen Will enjoy all rights. However, he claimed that all the intruders would be driven out of the country.
The BJP president also welcomed Prime Minister Narendra Modi for scrapping the provisions of Article 370 giving special status to Jammu and Kashmir, saying that it would facilitate full integration of the state in India. Referring to the BJP’s predecessor, Jana Sangh founder, Shyama Prasad Mukherjee, Shah said that it was due to the sacrifices of the leader that West Bengal was today a part of the Indian Republic.