Does Amit Shah have his father's birth certificate? Mamata's all-out attack against BJP

Kolkata, Aug 14: Launching a fresh tirade against the Centre on the issue of NRC in Assam, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee today claimed that those who did not make it to the final draft of the citizens' register are being sent to detention camps.

She also said those who have been staying in the country for years were "branded as infiltrators" and accused the BJP of carrying out the exercise with an eye on Lok Sabha elections.

In a scathing attack on BJP National President Amit Shah, Mamata said, "Amit Shah is not God. The party has anti-Bengali stand and now they are planning to strengthen its base in Bengal!."

Mamata questioned Amit Shah, "Do you have your parent's birth certificate. I don't have my parent's certificates (which are needed to prove citizenship according to the NRC guidelines). I want to ask the same question to all the BJP and RSS units. Do they have birth certificates of their parents?

Asked about BJP chief Amit Shah's recent statement about starting a similar process in West Bengal, Banerjee said, "They (BJP) are anti-Bengali." The BJP is looking at a presidential form of government but "they will lose everywhere", she claimed.

"If everything is fine in Assam, as claimed by the government there, why were 400 companies of central forces deployed in the state? Are media persons allowed to move freely in Assam," she asked.

"Around 1,200 people, including children and women, have been sent to detention camps," she told reporters at the state secretariat. Of the 40.07 lakh people who did not find a place in the complete draft that was released on July 30, 25 lakh were Bengali Hindus and 13 lakh Bengali Muslims, she claimed. The remaining two lakhs are Biharis, Marwaris and Nepalis, Banerjee said.

Brandishing few voter cards, she claimed the identity proofs belonged to people born between 1962 and 1965. "Are these people genuine citizens or infiltrators," she asked. Banerjee said she was fortunate enough to have been born in West Bengal, else "I, too, would have been dubbed as an infiltrator."