Will hold camps from Wed for people to apply under CAA: Shantanu
Times of India | 8 July 2024
Kolkata: Camps will be held at Bongaon’s Thakurbari from Wednesday to facilitate submission of applications under the Citizenship Amendment Act. Union minister Shantanu Thakur said this on Sunday while addressing a Matua Mahasangha meeting in Bagda. He added that the citizenship certificates provided to applicants would be useful if NRC was implemented in the country.
Interestingly, four assembly constituencies, including Matua-majority seats Bagda and Ranaghat (South), are going to bypolls on Wednesday.Thakur’s cousin Madhuparna, daughter of Trinamool MP Mamata Bala Thakur, is contesting in Bagda.
“A lot of people are submitting their applications under the CAA. Those who need our help will come to the camps that we will organise from Wednesday. Those who want to apply under the Act can submit their application. Some people are still being misguided about the Act,” Thakur said.
The CAA issue dominated the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, with Trinamool successfully countering Centre’s poll-eve framing of CAA rules, by alleging that to apply for citizenship, people would have to forgo their existing rights which allowed them to vote and avail benefits from state’s social schemes. CAA, Trinamool alleged, was a prelude to the NRC. TMC was also critical of the fact that multiple documents were being thrust on the applicants to apply under CAA.
“I will explain to you why this certificate is important. If you don’t apply, you will not have a certificate. If the govt rolls out NRC in future, you will not have to worry as you already have the certificate. Nobody can drive you out of the country under the NRC. Matuas will never come under the NRC as they will have the govt’s certificate under the CAA,” Thakur said.