Congress not against NRC but way it is being implemented in Assam: Pawan Khera
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Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera on Saturday stated that the party is not against the National Register of Citizens (NRC) final draft but the way it is being implemented in Assam.
Khera further added that politicising the issue is "very dangerous" and accused BJP Chief Amit Shah of doing politics over the issue.
"Amit Shah does not know the history of NRC. The 1985 Assam Accord was signed by Rajiv Gandhi and the Congress after coming to power. The party initiated the NRC process in 2005," Khera told media in Kolkata.
"Also during the tenure of the Atal Bihari Vajpayee-led NDA government, there was no work on the NRC in Assam," Khera said.
"Now people like Amit Shah are doing politics over the NRC. The NRC draft does not have the names of the family members of a former president of the country (Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed) and a former vice-chancellor among others," he added.
Khera further added that Congress will "never think about vote bank. We think about the entire country".
Meanwhile, BJP President Amit Shah at an event in Kolkata today accused West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee of "protecting Bangladeshi infiltrators".
We want to ask Mamata Banerjee why is she protecting Bangladeshi infiltrators? Rahul Gandhi is also not clarifying his stand on the issue. This is because of Congress' vote-bank politics: BJP President Amit Shah in Kolkata #WestBengal pic.twitter.com/lSQyZhSZh7
— ANI (@ANI) August 11, 2018
"Why is she protecting Bangladeshi infiltrators? NRC is a process against illegal immigrants, shouldn't they be thrown out of the country?" Shah exclaimed.
The BJP President added that the BJP will go to every district of Bengal to throw out Trinamool Congress.
(With inputs from PTI)