By Bhupen Goswami

Guwahati : Tripura chief minister Biplab Deb has stirred up a hot debate on social media with a comment on the National Register of Citizens (NRC). A video clip has gone viral on social media, where he is purportedly seen saying the National Register of Citizens (NRC) revision in his State would cost him his chair.The video was shared widely on social media. In the clip, he was purportedly seen saying the NRC exercise in Tripura would cost him his post.The office of Tripura Chief Minister Biplab Deb have said that a video in which he was purportedly seen saying the National Register of Citizens exercise in his state would cost him his post is fake. The video has been widely shared on social media in the past few days. The Bharatiya Janata Party leader reportedly made the comments at a press conference at Raiganj and Kaliyaganj in West Bengal’s North Dinajpur district, where he went on a bye-election campaign in the weekend.“If I implement it in my state…my relatives, my father came from Bangladesh,” Deb was heard saying in the video clip that went viral. “He has got his citizenship card…After that, I was born in Tripura. So, if anyone suffers a loss due to NRC, I shall lose my chief ministership first.

Am I a fool that I shall implement NRC to lose CM-ship? My relatives, my father came from Bangladesh. He has got his citizenship card…After that, I was born in Tripura. So, if anyone suffers a loss due to NRC, I shall lose my chief minister’s post first. Am I a fool that I shall implement NRC to lose CM’s chair?” Deb is seen saying in the video clip. The clip was widely shared on Facebook, Twitter and different social media platforms that has triggered shower of comments from netizens. The video clip is an extract of a press conference by the chief minister at Raiganj and Kaliyaganj in North Dinajpur district of West Bengal, where he went on a by-election campaign three days back. However, according to reports, the chief minister’s media advisor Sanjay Mishra was of the opinion that the video clip was taken out of context for dirty politics’ by some with vested interest. In the full video clip, Biplab is seen speaking in favour of NRC and the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill saying they are meant to protect Indians, Mishra asserted. However, Deb’s media adviser Sanjay Mishra said the remarks in the video were “taken out of context for dirty politics” and to confuse people. In the unedited video, the chief minister was heard saying that the National Register of Citizens and Citizenship Amendment Bill were meant to protect Indians from “illegal immigrants, foreign infiltrators, thieves and dacoits”,Criticising his West Bengal counterpart Mamata Banerjee for opposing the NRC and the Citizenship Bill, Deb said the Trinamool Congress president did not understand what they were for.

“I don’t think West Bengal CM studies and talks about things,” he added. “She speaks on impulse.” The Citizenship Bill seeks to grant asylum to Hindus, Buddhists, Christians, Jains and Sikhs in Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan as they are minorities there. “People from majority communities of those countries don’t suffer human rights violations there,” he added. “If they want to sneak inside India in the dead of the night, how can that be allowed? Government of India is protecting people with NRC and CAB. Thieves, dacoits, illegal immigrants and foreign infiltrators will suffer from them.