On Monday, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee dared the government of India to dismiss her government, and declared that they can only bring about the discriminatory citizenship law “over her dead body”. Leading a protest march in the heart of Kolkata, Banerjee made a pledge to never allow the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) or the National Register of Citizens (NRC) to affect the people of her state.
The very same day, the Census Cell of the state issued an official communication putting a stay on the National Population Register (NPR) process. The letter issued by the Additional Secretary of the Census Cell, Home and Hill Affairs Department of the Government of West Bengal was addressed to the commissioners of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation, the Howrah Municipal Corporation as well as all District Magistrates.
It said, “I am directed to inform you that all activities regarding the preparation/updation of the National Population Register (NPR) are hereby stayed in West Bengal. No activity regarding NPR may be taken up without prior clearance from the Gove’t of West Bengal. The order is issued in the interest of public order.”
A copy of the letter may be viewed here:
This shows that Mamata Banerjee is not engaging in mere sabra rattling, and is prepared to walk the talk on preventing the CAA and NPR from delivering double body-blows on citizens of her state. This comes in addition to a rather dramatic back-and-forth between Banerjee and West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankar. When Dhankar tried political muscle flexing by summoning Banerjee to meet him using social media, Banerjee responded to it in a stinging letter reminding the governor of his “constitutional obligation to support the state government”.
And while Banerjee is not without fault, with many pointing out how her current stand on refugees, immigrants and the idea of citizenship is very different from what it was just about 15 years ago, as well as the construction of detention camps in her state, one cannot deny that she is showing incredible strength in standing up to the present regime, even if it is to score political brownie points.
