All Bengali refugees to get citizenship: Shah

Malda, Jan. 22: Kickstarting the BJP’s campaign in West Bengal, party chief Amit Shah on Tuesday said all Bengali refugees will be granted citizenship with the passage of the Citizenship Bill.

Speaking at a rally in Malda, Mr Shah took on the ruling Trinamul and said the upcoming Lok Sabha elections will be for restoring democracy in the state.

“I want to assure that all the Bengali refugees will be given citizenship under the Citizenship Bill. The Trinamul government has done nothing for the refugees but we will give them citizenship,” he said.

Taking a jibe at the rally of Opposition parties in Kolkata, he said the anti-BJP parties did not utter ‘Bharat Mata ki jai’ or ‘Vande Mataram’ even once during the public meeting, but kept chanting ‘Modi Modi’.

Mahagathbandhan is all about greed and serving personal interests.

— Amit

Shah,

BJP leader

Malda (WB), Jan. 22: Launching his party’s Lok Sabha poll campaign in West Bengal, BJP president Amit Shah Tuesday scoffed at the efforts by opposition parties to forge a grand alliance, saying it is driven by the “greed for power” and with nine potential prime ministerial candidates in their ranks.

Taking a swipe at the opposition rally convened by TMC supremo and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in Kolkata last Saturday, Shah said bringing in 20-25 leaders on one stage would not serve any purpose as Narendra Modi will become prime minister again.

Kickstarting the ‘Ganatanatra Bachao Yatra’ in Bengal, Shah also vowed to overthrow the Trinamool Congress (TMC) government in the state, asserting that the upcoming Lok Sabha elections will be for restoring democracy in the state.

The TMC was quick to hit back at Shah, saying his speech was “low on facts and poor in taste” and that it seemed the BJP had become nervous and realised that its days were numbered.

Touching upon the Citizenship(Amendment) Bill, Shah said all Bengali Hindu refugees will be granted citizenship once it gets Parliamentary approval and wondered whether Banerjee will extend her support to it.

“Mahagathbandhan is all about greed and serving personal interests. They want to remove Modi, while we want to remove poverty and corruption. They want a ‘majboor sarkar’ (helpless government) so that they can engage in corruption. We want a ‘majboot sarkar’ (strong government) so that we can give a befitting reply to Pakistan. It is for the people to decide whether they want a ‘majboot’ or ‘majboor’ government,” he said.

“The 100 crore people of this country stand with Modi,” he said.