Mamata to take part in 3 peaceful protest rallies in city against NRC, Citizenship Act

Kolkata: Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee will take part in three back-to-back rallies in the city for staging peaceful protest against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).

Banerjee will lead a rally in North Kolkata on Monday that will start from BR Ambedkar statue on Red Road and end at Jorasanko Thakurbari.

The second one in South Kolkata on Tuesday will start from Jadavpur 8B bus stand and end at Jadu Babur Bazaar in Bhowanipore, while the third one will be held on Wednesday from Howrah Maidan to Dorina crossing in Esplanade.

The Trinamool supremo has already reiterated that she will not allow implementation of the Citizenship Amendment Act in Bengal under any circumstances and has given the call for organising a mass movement against the act and National Register of Citizens (NRC). Trinamool on Sunday held rallies in various parts of the districts and protested against CAA. State Fire and Emergency Services minister Sujit Bose led a rally at Lake Town. State Biotechnology minister Bratya Basu organised another rally at Nagerbazar, while state Transport minister Suvendu Adhikari did the same at Midnapore.

Banerjee had held a press conference at Digha in East Midnapore on Friday and had announced her party programmes regarding peaceful and democratic protest against CAA and NRC.

"So what if the CAB has been passed in the Parliament? The implementation is in the hands of the state government. Our Bengal government will not implement the act here," Banerjee had said, adding that BJP can't bulldoze the states for implementation of CAA.

Banerjee, who was scheduled to attend a meeting on the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi at Delhi on December 17, cancelled her trip. "The Citizenship Act will divide India. Our supremo has made it clear that as long as we are in power, not a single person in the state will have to leave the country," a senior Trinamool leader said.

Banerjee had claimed on Friday that the situation in the country has turned so volatile after the amended Citizenship Act, that the Prime Minister of Japan and Bangladesh Foreign Minister have cancelled their trip to India.

Expressing her concern over the situation in the North East that has seen widespread violence since the CAA was implemented, she had said: "We tried our best to bell the cat and had warned the Centre not to play with fire by implementing NRC and CAA. Each of the states has a sentiment of its own. But they did not pay any heed."