Lok Sabha elections: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday alleged that the BJP is intimidating people by threatening to send central investigative agencies to their homes if they do not vote for the saffron party in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
"The BJP is using central agencies for elections... it is threatening people over the phone to send Enforcement Directorate (ED) and Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) sleuths to their homes if they do not vote for the saffron party," Banerjee said at a public distribution programme Cooch Behar.
The West Bengal Chief Minister also asserted that she will not adhere to any directives from the BJP regarding the worship of any specific deity. "I follow Ramayana, Quran, Bible and Guru Granth Sahib... I do not do drama by visiting poor people's homes to eat food brought from outside," she said.
Mamata Banerjee on CAA
The Trinamool Congress (TMC) chief advised locals in Cooch Behar, particularly Rajbanshis, to ensure that their names are on the voters' list to "protect themselves" from the Citizenship (Amendment) Act or CAA. Banerjee alleged that the Centre is using the issue of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) for political purposes ahead of the Lok Sabha polls.
"Who fought for the NRC? We did. It is only for the sake of vote politics that some are shouting. You are all citizens. We have recognized you all as citizens. We have given permanent addresses to all refugees in the colonies. They receive ration, go to school, receive scholarships, get education degrees, and receive benefits. If they were not citizens, they wouldn't receive all these benefits, but they do vote," she said.
Earlier, Union minister and BJP leader Shantanu Thakur claimed that the CAA will be implemented across India within the next seven days. "Ram Mandir has been inaugurated in Ayodhya, and within the next seven days, the CAA will be implemented across the country. This is my guarantee. Not just in West Bengal, the CAA would be implemented in every state of India within a week," he said.
CAA rules to be notified 'much before' Lok Sabha poll announcement
Rules for the Citizenship (Amendment) Act of 2019 will be notified "much before" the announcement of the Lok Sabha elections, a senior government functionary said. "We are going to issue the rules for the CAA soon. Once the rules are issued, the law can be implemented and those eligible can be granted Indian citizenship," the functionary said.
Under the CAA brought in by the Narendra Modi government, Indian nationality will be granted to persecuted non-Muslim migrants -- Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists, Parsis and Christians -- from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan who had come to India till December 31, 2014.
The CAA seeks to grant Indian citizenship to persecuted minorities like Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists, Parsis and Christians from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan who had entered India on or before December 31, 2014.
(With PTI inputs)
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