He is responsible for creating panic among people of WB: TMC after Amit Shah's NRC push

Kolkata, Oct 01: West Bengal Finance Minister Amit Mitra on Monday slammed Union Home Minister Amit Shah and said that he is responsible for creating panic among the people of the state with his utterances on the contentious National Register of Citizens.

Speaking to media, Amit Mitra said,''Amid celebrations of Durga Puja, Amit Shah is scaring our people with NRC pitch in Bengal. This is threatening a section of people. Hindu, Sikh, Jain, Buddhist, & Christian refugees will not be included in the process. This is unconstitutional.''

Earlier even Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee cautioned the people of West Bengal against divisive politics and said it will not work in the state.

Inaugurating a Durga puja for the first time in West Bengal, Union Home Minister Amit Shah accused the state's Trinamool Congress government of stifling the rights of the people to celebrate Durga Puja to serve the party's vote bank.

Shah, also the BJP president, inauguratedthe BJ Block community Durga Puja at Salt Lake in the eastern fringes of the city amid tight security.

"People had to go to the high court to seek permission for immersion of the idol of Durga. The constitutional right of the people to celebrate festivals was not guaranteed in West Bengal due to vote bank politics," Shah said while addressing the inauguration ceremony.

Shah was referring to the restrictions imposed by the state government on Durga idol immersion on the day of Vijayadashami after 10 pm in 2017. It had also said no immersion would be allowed on the day Muharram.

However, the Calcutta High Court allowed immersion of idols on all days from Vijayadashami including on Muharram.