Kolkata, Sep 1 (IANS): Showing empathy for the more than 19 lakh people in Assam, specially Bengalis whose names were excluded from the much-awaited final list of the National Register of Citizens (NRC), West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday called it a fiasco for which the nation deserves an answer.

"The NRC fiasco has exposed all those who tried to take political mileage out of it. They have a lot to answer to the nation. This is what happens when an act is guided by an ulterior motive rather than the good of the society and the larger interest of the nation," Banerjee wrote on Twitter.

Some 19,06,657 people have been excluded from the final list, which names 3,11,21,004 people as Indian citizens, the NRC authorities announced.

"My heart goes out to all those, especially the large number of Bengali speaking brothers and sisters, who are made to suffer because of this botched-up process," she wrote.