“Such instigation is unwanted before the polls. We will not tolerate this and protest against this,” Banerjee said at a press conference at Nabanna. “We will protest this. I am telling you before the announcement that if something divisive is announced, we will protest that. Why is this being announced just before the vote? Why just before Ramadan starts? All people should keep their fast and Hindus should celebrate their festivals like Holi.”

“This is BJP’s work. As elections near, they start spreading information through news channels and then bring it to the people. Channels are running that the CAA will be implemented by tonight. This law was passed in 2020. After multiple extensions in four years, its implementation two to three days before the election announcement shows that it is being done for political reasons. We are waiting to see how the rules are framed. We have not received the notification. We do not know what the rules say. After seeing all the rules and reading the entire report, I will speak about them in detail tomorrow,” the chief minister said.

Banerjee further said, “If there is any discrimination, we don’t accept it. Be it religion, caste or linguistic. They won’t be able to give citizenship to anyone in two days. This is just a lollipop and show-off. If they call them citizens only after the CAA, were they not citizens before? Why were Aadhaar cards of Matuas being cancelled before? This means they are doing something new to replace old laws. The PM was elected on the basis of the votes of these people. How can they not be citizens? If they cancel the citizenship of anyone through the CAA and the NRC, we will not be quiet. We will show strong protest. We will not accept the NRC at any cost. We will not allow the use of the CAA to put people in detention camps.”