Kolkata: Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee gave a clarion call to people from all walks of life to wholeheartedly oppose the National Register of Citizens (NRC) and its twin brother the Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB). She was addressing a gathering on Mayo Road to observe the death anniversary of B R Ambedkar on Friday, where she stated: "You must understand that the Centre is raising issues like NRC and CAB just to divert attention from key economic problems and silence them so that they do not raise their voice against the Centre." She said that the city, which had given leadership to all the movements against injustice during the British period, will once again lead the country to prevent it from getting divided. "I do not mind supporting NRC if all Indians are given citizenship. But this is not happening. In the North-East, the Centre has backed out and announced that there will be no NRC for the tribals. We have tribals in Birbhum, Bankura and Purulia but they have not been exempted," she said. "Thousands of Namashudras and Rajbangshis had come to India from East Pakistan after Independence. They are staying here for the past seven decades. No questions have been raised against them. Why is the Centre only singling out the Muslims," questioned the Chief Minister. She pointed out that the Centre has made every Indian feel insecure. "You cannot deposit money in the bank so that in case of trouble, the bank will give you only Rs 1 lakh irrespective of the amount you had deposited. You cannot keep the money in your home. The ATMs are being looted. I want the Centre to return the money," Banerjee said, adding: "I had cautioned that linking of Aadhaar card with bank details will lead to the leaking of data to thieves." Coming down heavily on Union Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman, she said: "No step has been taken to reduce the price of onions and the Finance minister has said before Parliament that she has not been disturbed as she does not consume onions or garlic." She alleged that the Centre has given the state only 20 metric tonne of onion which it had imported from other countries. Of the quantity the Centre has supplied, 10 metric tonne has been found to be rotten.

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