Shah: Will implement CAA when Covid ends
KOLKATA: The Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) will be enforced as soon as the Covid-19 pandemic gets over, Union home minister Amit Shah said in West Bengal on Thursday, accusing the ruling Trinamool Congress in the state of spreading rumours about the central law.
Although the controversial law was passed in 2019, the rules on how it is to be implemented have not been framed yet, and the government has said this will happen once the pandemic ends.
Shah also said that the prices of petrol and diesel were higher in West Bengal as compared to states ruled by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) because chief minister Mamata Banerjee was not reducing local levies on fuel.
“Bengal is the only Indian state where price of petrol is ₹115 per litre. In Bjp-ruled states, the price is ₹105. The Bengal government charges 25% Value Added Tax (VAT) in addition to local state tax,” Shah said at a rally in north Bengal on Thursday during his first visit to the state since the 2021 assembly elections.
The TMC earlier said that it will not reduce VAT until the Centre reduces its taxes on fuel and the state gets its pending GST dues. “It is the Centre that is increasing fuel prices every day. It is looting common people,” Banerjee said in Kolkata on Thursday afternoon.
Shah also said the BJP will not rest till it uproots the TMC’S tyrannical rule from the state. Attacking the TMC government on several fronts at the rally in Siliguri town, Shah said corruption, nepotism and political violence have increased in Bengal after the 2021 polls while development and welfare have taken the back seat. His visit comes a year after the state polls that the TMC won comfortably, although the run-up to it saw an intense fight between it and the BJP.
Shah also took a swipe at Banerjee for sending fact-finding teams to Uttar Pradesh after some crimes. “Did you send fact-finding teams to Birbhum where eight women were burnt alive (on March 21) or to Nadia where a minor girl was raped (on April 4)?” asked Shah. He reiterated that the CAA — which Banerjee has vehemently opposed — will be enforced in West Bengal as soon as the Covid-19 pandemic ends.
“Mamata Banerjee wants illegal infiltration to continue while refugees languish. We will not let this happen. TMC is spreading rumours about CAA, saying it will not be enforced. I promise you today that once the corona(virus) pandemic ends, we will enforce it in Bengal. We will ensure that refugees from Bangladesh get Indian citizenship. It is a matter of months. It was reality, it is reality and it will be a reality,” said Shah.
The law offers citizenship to non-muslims from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh who entered India before 2015.
Banerjee responded to Shah’s comments and said he was misleading people by spreading false information. “He comes and makes the same promise over and over again. I have said it (CAA) is not necessary because all Bengalis are Indian citizens.”
Shah also launched a new surveillance and petrol vessel of the BSF. “It is impossible to stop transborder smuggling and infiltration without the cooperation of the local government. I assure a political situation will soon evolve in which this cooperation will come automatically.”
AMIT SHAH HAS ACCUSED THE TMC OF SPREADING RUMOURS ABOUT THE CENTRAL LAW