West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee accused the BJP of spreading fear over the National Register of Citizens on Tuesday, hours after the alleged suicide of a man near Kolkata, who reportedly left behind a note blaming the NRC for his death.
Barrackpore Police Commissionerate Muralidhar Sharma said after visiting the spot that 57-year-old Pradeep Kar from Panihati in North 24 Parganas district was found hanging at his residence in Panihati on Tuesday morning.
A suicide note was found in which NRC was mentioned, Sharma said, adding that preliminary investigations revealed the person was in depression after the announcement of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral rolls on Monday.
Condemning what she described as the BJP’s “politics of fear and division,” the CM alleged that the party’s campaign around the NRC has created panic among people.
“It shakes me to the very core to imagine how, for years, BJP has tormented innocent citizens with the threat of NRC, spreading lies, stoking panic and weaponising insecurity for votes,” Banerjee said in the post.
She charged the BJP with turning “constitutional democracy into a theatre of fear”, and said the “tragic death” was the result of “venomous propaganda”.
“They have turned Constitutional democracy into a theatre of fear, where people are made to doubt their own right to exist. This tragic death is the direct consequence of BJP’s venomous propaganda. Those who sit in Delhi and preach nationalism have pushed ordinary Indians to such despair that they are dying in their own land, fearing they will be declared ‘FOREIGNERS’,” she added.
Demanding that the Centre put an end to what she called a “heartless game,” Banerjee reiterated that Bengal would “never allow NRC” and would protect the dignity and rights of its people.
“Our soil belongs to Maa, Mati, Manush (mother, land and people), not to those who thrive on hate. Let the Delhi Zamindars hear this loud and clear: Bengal will resist, Bengal will protect and Bengal will prevail,” she added.
Barrackpore Police Commissioner Murlidhar Sharma said, “After a preliminary investigation and speaking to his family members and relatives, we found that Kar had been very depressed over the NRC. He had been under severe stress for quite some time, especially since yesterday’s announcement of SIR.”
The IPS officer said that the deceased had dinner on Monday night and then went to his room.
“His family members could not understand what was going on in his mind. On Tuesday morning, he was found hanging from the ceiling of his room,” Sharma said.
The deceased’s elder sister claimed that her brother had been frightened about the implementation of the NRC.
“He used to tell us that he would be taken away in the name of NRC,” she said.
