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Updated: Jul 26, 2020 21:54 IST

West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee hit back at home minister Amit Shah for saying that a National Register of Citizens (NRC), similar to the one in Assam, will be implemented across the country.

Banerjee said she will never allow division on the basis of religion in her state.

“There are few people, who are trying to create disturbance in the state in the name of implementation of NRC. I want to make it very clear, we will never allow NRC in Bengal,” she said at a rally in Sagardighi, around 200 km from Kolkata.

In his address in Rajya Sabha on Wednesday, Shah had said that there was no reason for people to be worried about NRC.

He said there were no provisions in the NRC to exclude people from any particular religion and citizens from all religions will figure in it.

The final Assam NRC list, which was published on August 31, left out over 1.9 million people.

Banerjee said the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) must first reply why Hindus and Bengalis were omitted from the final NRC list in Assam before talking about a pan-India exercise.

“No one can take away your citizenship and turn you into a refugee. There can be no division on the basis of religion,” she added.

Shah and Banerjee have sparred many times before over the NRC issue. The BJP chief had accused Banerjee of “spreading lies” on NRC as she was wary about BJP’s rise in Bengal.

In a rally in Bengal last month, Shah had said the Trinamool Congress chief’s comments that millions of Hindus will have to leave the state if NRC exercise is carried out are mere lies.

“I was to assure the people of Bengal from all communities that nothing of this sort is going to happen. We will not allow even a single intruder inside India. We will expel all of them,” Shah said.

Banerjee had alleged that panic created by BJP on NRC had led to six deaths in Bengal in September.

“Shame on the BJP for creating panic over NRC in Bengal, it has led to six deaths. Have faith in me, I will never allow the exercise in Bengal,” Banerjee had said.