Mamata Banerjee, the Chief Minister (CM) of West Bengal (WB,) on the 19th of September, met Amit Shah, the Home Minister of India, during her three day visit to Delhi.
During her meeting with Amit Shah, the West Bengal CM discussed the Assam National Register of Citizens (NRC.)
After her meeting, Ms. Banerjee said, “I raised the issue of Assam NRC with the Home Minister and handed him a letter. I spoke to him about the exclusion of 19 lakh people out of the Assam NRC, some of who are Hindi, Bengali and Gorkha speaking people and genuine Indian voters.”
A day earlier, Ms. Banerjee met Prime Minister Narendra Modi. On the 18th of September, she met PM Modi and discussed several issues like the proposal to change the name of West Bengal, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL,) Defence Ordnance Factory and Railway and Coal.
She also invited him to the inauguration event of a coal block project in Birbhum, West Bengal.
The West Bengal CM declared the meetings with Shah and Modi as non political ones and said they were solely meant for discussing the issues in West Bengal pertaining to development.
Speaking about her meeting with PM Modi, Banerjee said, “The Centre owes us Rs. 13,500 crore. The name change proposal of our State is also pending. If they have any suggestions keeping the proposed name ‘Bangla’ in mind then we have no issues accepting it. This is about people’s sentiments.” Emphasizing more on the purpose of the meeting, Ms. Banerjee said, “…but this wasn’t a political meeting. It is a Government to a Government meeting (sic.)”
Despite her justifications, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in West Bengal deemed the meeting as her effort to rescue Rajeev Kumar, the Commissioner of Kolkata Police, who is being investigated by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in relation to a money scam case.
Kailash Vijayvargiya, the President of the BJP in WB, said, “Why is she seeking a meeting with PM Modi all of a sudden? This is a desperate attempt to save Rajeev Kumar as she is very well aware that his arrest would ensure that half of her cabinet will land behind bars. But her attempts won’t yield any result.”
Ms. Banerjee is expected to return to West Bengal on the 21st of September.
Stay tuned for further updates.
