CAA in West Bengal: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader, Suvendu Adhikari declared that the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) will be implemented in West Bengal. The Nandigram MLA and the Leader of Opposition in the state Assembly also challenged chief minister Mamata Banerjee to prevent its implementation.
Adhikari stated during a meeting in the Matua-dominated Thakurnagar neighbourhood of North 24 Parganas District that the CAA does not imply that anyone's citizenship will be revoked if one is a bonafide resident with proper documentation.
"We have discussed about the CAA several times. It will be rolled out in the state. If you have guts, stop it from being enforced," he stated in an apparent reference to the chief minister. He also went on to say that Matua community members will also be granted citizenship under the CAA.
The Matuas are a politically significant community that is split into the BJP and TMC.
With an estimated 30-lakh Matuas in the state, the community has influence in at least five Lok Sabha seats and nearly 50 assembly seats in Nadia, North and South 24 Parganas districts.
'CAA will be 'a reality in West Bengal': BJP
Union Minister and BJP MP from Bongaon, Shantanu Thakur also said the CAA will be "a reality in West Bengal, and the Narendra Modi government is committed to realising the goal".
Meanwhile, TMC leader and senior West Bengal minister Firhad Hakim said the BJP is “playing” with the CAA card before the 2023 panchayat polls and the 2024 Lok Sabha elections with "an eye on vote-bank politics".
BJP 'playing' CAA card ahead of 2024 General elections: TMC
Notably, the CAA facilitates the grant of citizenship to migrants belonging to Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi and Christian communities from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan.
However, no one has been able to obtain citizenship under the legislation so far because the government has not yet established the rules that would regulate it.
(With inputs from PTI)
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