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CAA IN BENGAL BEFORE 2024 POLLS: BJP STATE CHIEF

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Bengal chief Sukanta Majumdar on Wednesday said that the Centre would implement Citizen Amendment Act (CAA) in the state before general elections in 2024. ANI quoted the MP from Balurghat as saying, “BJP has a track record of keeping its promises. We had promised to build the Ram Mandir, we have […]

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Bengal chief Sukanta Majumdar on Wednesday said that the Centre would implement Citizen Amendment Act (CAA) in the state before general elections in 2024. ANI quoted the MP from Balurghat as saying, “BJP has a track record of keeping its promises. We had promised to build the Ram Mandir, we have done it. CAA is our goal, and we will achieve it. It is our promise that we will implement CAA. I have complete faith that CAA will be implemented before the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.”

The controversial legislation seeks to grant Indian citizenship to members of persecuted minorities, including Hindu, Sikh, Jain, Buddhist, Parsi and Christian from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan, who had entered India on or before 31 December 2014. The Centre has maintained that citizenship to the eligible beneficiaries of CAA will be given only after rules under the legislation are notified.

According to the BJP, CAA and National Register of Citizens (NRC) would stop illegal infiltration into the country from across the borders. However, the central law leaves out Muslims and is thus considered discriminatory.

In fact, there is apprehension that such laws if implemented would deprive millions of Indians of their citizenship. So, when the Central government amended the citizenship law in December 2019 and made its intention clear to go ahead with the implementation of CAA, as a prelude to NRC implementation, there were huge protests across the country that went on for months till the Covid Pandemic hit the country in March.

Almost all opposition parties have been critical of the laws. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has several times said that she would not allow the implementation of the CAA and the NRC in the state.

Majumdar also hit out at the Trinamool Congress (TMC) for attempting to dissociate itself from the comments MP Mahua Moitra had made on Tuesday during the course of a conclave when she was asked about the depiction of Goddess Kali in a documentary. Saying that everyone has his own imagination of worshipping a deity, Moitra had commented that Kali was a meat and alcohol accepting Goddess, sparking an outrage against her, with her party distancing itself from her comment.

“TMC can’t detach itself from the comments of Mahua Moitra. If TMC actually doesn’t endorse it, they should take action. They should either expel her or suspend her from the party for a few days,” said the West Bengal BJP chief. Majumdar also demanded Moitra’s arrest. “Our Mahila Morcha will stage a sit-in protest, go to police station and request that she be arrested,” said Majumdar.

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