Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday, December 16, officially stopped work on the National Population Register. Earlier in the day, she had said that the new Citizenship law and the National Register of Citizens would be implemented in the state only over her “dead body”.

“All activities regarding the preparation/updation of the National Population Register (NPR) are hereby stayed in West Bengal. No activity regarding NRP may be taken up without prior clearance from the government of West Bengal,” read the order sent from the Secretariat.

It was expected that the Population Register would lay the groundwork for rolling out a citizens’ list in the future to weed out illegal migrants.

The government’s order to the civic bodies and district magistrates comes at a time when countrywide outrage over the Centre’s new citizenship law is simmering. Although the Centre has said that no state has a choice in this matter, Bengal is one of the three states that has strictly refused to implement the law.

Mamata Banerjee led a mammoth rally on December 16 against the citizenship law.

“As long as I am alive, I will never implement the citizenship law or NRC in the state. You can very well dismiss my government or put me behind bars but I will never implement this black law,” the Chief Minister said. “If they want to implement it in Bengal they will have to do it over my dead body,” Banerjee added.

Also Read: Mamata Banerjee Leads Mega Protest Rally; Says Will Never Allow NRC, CAA In Bengal