West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee (File photo)

KALIAGANJ: West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday said all immigrants from Bangladesh settled in the state were bona fide Indian citizens who had nothing to fear from the new citizenship law.

“All of you have voter cards, job cards, land pattas and an address. You are all citizens. There is no need for a fresh citizenship law. Don’t believe those who are trying to divide the people,” she said at a rally at Kaliaganj in Uttar Dinajpur district .

Reiterating that she wouldn’t “let anybody take away the rights of our people”, she said the TMC government had regularised 119 more refugee colonies and issued land pattas to those living there as a stamp on their citizenship. “You will always find your Didi beside you. Your family is my family,” she said, setting the tone of her “Didi Ke Bolo (Tell Didi)” outreach campaign in the state’s most poverty-stricken areas.

Accusing BJP of playing with “Rajbanshi sentiments” ahead of the Lok Sabha polls and letting them down later, Mamata said, “They (BJP) told the Rajbanshis that they will stay in Cooch Behar...that the Bengalis have to go. Months later, during the Assam NRC exercise, Rajbanshis along with Bengalis took the hit. We want food, not division. We want jobs, not riots.”

During the assembly bypoll to the Uttar Dinajpur seat in November, the building blocks of TMC’s victory were direct transfer of benefits and a prompt delivery mechanism. On Tuesday, Mamata announced the Snehalaya housing scheme for 25,000 beneficiaries, all of whom had conveyed their wish to own a home to the grievance cell set up by the CM.

“The Snehalaya scheme is in addition to the existing Banglar Abas Yojana. A total of 25,000 people appealed to me via the chief minister’s grievance cell for a dwelling unit. I checked the applications and found that many of them do not fit into Banglar Abas Yojana. I have, therefore, started this new scheme to make their dream come true,” Mamata said.

