COOCH BEHAR: Two Bengal BJP leaders set two different timeframes for the implementation of the Citizenship Amendment Act, prompting the Trinamool Congress to accuse the BJP of raking up the issue "only for votes".
Junior Union shipping minister Shantanu Thakur on Sunday claimed CAA would be implemented in a week; his party colleague and assembly opposition leader, Suvendu Adhikari, on Monday extended the implementation deadline to February end.
The claims elicited a response from Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee on Monday. "We have already given a permanent address to refugee colonies. You are getting rations, your children are going to schools, you are getting benefits under state welfare schemes like Krishak Bandhu, Sikshashree, Kanyashree, Lakshmir Bhandar. Could you have availed of these schemes had you not been citizens? Could you have voted if you were not citizens?" she asked a rally in Cooch Behar.
BJP junior Union minister Thakur, while addressing a rally in South 24 Parganas' Kakdwip on Sunday, "guaranteed" that CAA would be implemented "in the next seven days" after the "recent inauguration of Ram Mandir". "Those who have come to this country after 1971 have a right to vote but I have heard there are thousands here who cannot," he said.
Adhikari on Monday claimed the Modi government would enforce CAA by February 29, 2024. "The CM is trying to confuse people. The Union home minister (Amit Shah) had said the purpose of the CAA was to give citizenship, not to take it away," he said.
Leader of opposition Suvendu Adhikari claimed, "A person originally from this side of the border is never asked for land documents while applying for visa. But refugees from Bangladesh are asked to produce pre-1971 land documents," adding that CAA would put an end to this.
CM Banerjee responded on Monday in Cooch Behar. "My Rajbanshi friends, you are already citizens. They (BJP leaders) are raking up the CAA issue for political reasons ahead of the elections," she said, asking those in the audience how they could vote if they were not citizens already.
Senior state minister Shashi Panja accused the BJP "of resorting to its old tactics vis-a-vis CAA". "Our CM has made it clear this is merely an election issue for the BJP. CAA seeks to provide citizenship to those who are already Indian citizens. People are already beneficiaries of state schemes, they get their ration and they vote. This is only a poll issue for the BJP and has nothing to do with providing security or benefits to people," she said. CAA has been pending implementation since being passed in Parliament in December 2019.
Explore Your Financial Landscape with Personalized Credit Insights.