Mayawati seeks all-party meeting on NRC

: Joining the row over the draft National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam, BSP president Mayawati today condemned the exclusion of over 40 lakh people and demanded an all-party meeting on it.

"By depriving 40 lakh people from religious and linguistic minorities living there for years of their citizenship, the BJP governments both at the Centre and in Assam have achieved the target of their narrow and divisive politics," she said in a press release.

In a terse reaction, state BJP chief Mahendra Nath Pandey said the Bahujan Samaj Party leader was working in tandem with the Congress to save infiltrators from Bangladesh.

Mayawati said it would be very difficult to contain the frenzy caused by the publication of the draft NRC and called for an all-party meeting to work out remedial measures.

She said the Centre should not complicate the issue on the pretext of having acted on court orders, alleging that the government has been "continuously flouting" them.

The BSP president claimed there was an anarchy in the country because of the "narrow, casteist, communal and divisive policies" of the BJP and its governments, and Uttar Pradesh too was affected by it.

She alleged that in western Uttar Pradesh, which the BSP regarded as its stronghold, the Dalits and the Muslims were being subjected to immense pressure from the government.

Mayawati demanded immediate steps to stop the "malicious campaign" against them.

Reacting to her remarks, UP BJP chief Mahendra Nath Pandey said, "When the issue of infiltration of illegal Bangladeshi immigrants in Assam had assumed the shape of a mass movement, Mayawati was nowhere in politics.

"Moving in tandem with the Congress, the BSP chief wants to save Bangladeshi infiltrators, he said.

Hundreds of Assamese youth had to sacrifice their lives on the issue of illegal infiltration," he said.

"The Congress did not have the courage to implement the Assam accord, but the BJP government has shown the courage, the BJP leader said in a statement.