CAA to be enforced after vaccination drive: Shah
Home minister says Mamata, too, will chant ‘Jai Shri Ram’ after Bengal elections
KOLKATA: The Centre will enforce the Citizenship Amendment Act, or CAA, after the drive for vaccination against the coronavirus disease gets over in the country, Union home minister Amit Shah said in West Bengal on Thursday, reaching out to an influential refugee community that is credited with helping his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) put up an impressive show in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
On a day-long visit to the state, which is headed for assembly elections this summer, Shah sharpened his attack on chief minister Mamata Banerjee, said she would start chanting the “Jai Shri Ram” slogan by the time polls were over, accused her of misleading people on CAA, dismissed criticism that the legislation was meant to target Muslims, and assured the Dalit Matua community of his government’s commitment to implementing the law that fast-tracks citizenship of Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists, Christians and Parsis who have arrived in India from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh before 2015.
“We promised in 2019 that we will amend the citizenship law and asked the Matua community to support us in the Lok Sabha polls. They did not fail us. We kept our word and passed the law (in December 2019), but the country was hit by the pandemic. Mamata Banerjee campaigned that we were making false promises. She said she will stop the law from being enforced in Bengal. Today, I promise that the law will be enforced once vaccination is done and corona is gone,” he said at a rally at Thakurnagar in North 24-Parganas.
Thakurnagar is part of the
Bongaon Lok Sabha seat that the BJP won in 2019 by fielding Matua leader Shantanu Thakur against his aunt and then incumbent Mamata Bala Thakur, who was a candidate of the state’s ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC). In all, the BJP won 18 of the state’s 42 seats. Now, it aims to overthrow the TMC government by winning over 200 of the state’s 294 assembly seats in the elections due in April-may.
Originally from East Pakistan, Matuas, who are Hindus, came to India during the Partition and after the creation of Bangladesh in 1971. Analysts say the Dalit Namasudra community, with an estimated population of three million, can influence poll results in around 80 assembly seats. The Matuas are a part of this community. Shah’s message on CAA is seen an attempt to address an unease that has set in among a section of Matuas due to the delay in the implementation of the legislation.
Shah said CM Banerjee will not be in a position to oppose CAA in future as she will lose her post after the polls. Critics of the law, including Banerjee, argue
that CAA is discriminatory against Muslims and links citizenship to religion in a secular country. “I want to assure our Muslim brothers that they will not lose citizenship because of this law. The law does not take away citizenship rights. Not a single Muslim will be affected. The law has no such provision,” Shah said.
“Once in power, we will free Bengal of all infiltrators in five years,” he added.
Banerjee hit back. Addressing a large number of NGOS and social welfare organisations in Kolkata, she said she will not allow CAA and the National Register of Citizens, an exercise against illegal citizens. “My backward class friends include not just the Matuas but people from all groups and sub-castes. I seek your support in this election. Please save Bengal. I do not make promises like the Centre. I deliver. Commitments are my credential...,” she said.
Referring to Shah’s visit, she said: “All are welcome in Bengal. But things he said, the vulgar words he used… do not suit the home minister. You can insult
me but you can’t ignore me.”
Earlier in the day, Shah branded Banerjee a “failed administrator”, stressing that the upcoming polls will be a contest between PM Modi’s “development model” and Banerjee’s “destruction model”.
In Cooch Behar, Shah targeted the CM for objecting to the chanting of the “Jai Sri Ram” slogan at a January 23 government programme on freedom fighter Subhas Chandra Bose’s birth anniversary. PM Modi was present at the event. “Where else can you raise the Jai Sri Ram slogan? Will you do it in Pakistan? Mamata didi has problems with the slogan because she has to appease a particular community. I can assure you that by the time the polls are over, she will start chanting Jai Shri Ram,” said Shah, referring to Banerjee as didi, or elder sister.