A delegation of the All India Trinamool Congress (AITMC) was stopped at the Silchar Airport on Thursday. The delegation comprising MPs Sukhendu Sekhar Ray, Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar, Ratna De Nag, Nadimul Haque, Arpita Ghosh, Mamata Thakur, minister Firhad Hakim and MLA Mahua Moitra, was scheduled to visit Silchar on the of Assam's National Register of Citizens (NRC) draft.
According to reports, anti-government slogans were raised outside the Silchar airport and the AITMC delegation was stopped sensing a fear of agitation.
Section 144 of CrPC has also been imposed in Silchar.
Reacting on the issue, AITMC leader Derek O Brien said, "Our delegation was detained at Silchar airport. It is our democratic right to meet people; this is a super emergency like situation."
West Bengal Chief Minister and AITMC chief Mamata Banerjee has criticised the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Centre for excluding the names of 40 lakh people from Assam's NRC draft.
Banerjee told ANI that the BJP is playing vote bank politics in Assam.
"BJP is doing vote bank politics in Assam. They have omitted the names of as many as 40 lakh people which is 25 per cent of voters residing in the state. This is very unfortunate and as human beings, we cannot do such things," she said.
Banerjee has been consistently disapproving the latest NRC draft. Accusing the BJP of vendetta politics, she had said that the party was targeting people in the wake of general elections scheduled in 2019. She has also accused the BJP of conspiracy against minorities.
The draft list, which was released on July 30, left out nearly 40 lakh people in Assam, incorporating names of 2.89 crore people out of 3.29 crore applicants.
The first draft was published on December 31, 2017, and names of 1.9 crores of the 3.29 crore applicants were incorporated.
The NRC draft features the names, addresses and photographs of all Indian citizens, who have been residing in the northeastern state before March 25, 1971.
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