– Shabana Javed
Kolkata, Jan. 31: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said she will not allow CAA to be implemented in West Bengal as long as she is alive. She targeted BJP for raising the issue of CAA before Lok Sabha elections.
At a public distribution program in Raiganj of North Dinajpur district, Mamata Banerjee alleged that the BJP has raised the issue of Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) before the upcoming elections to take political advantage.
She said, “Let me make it clear that as long as I am alive, I will not allow it to be implemented in West Bengal.”
She further expressed alarm over reports of Border Security Force (BSF) allegedly issuing separate identity cards to residents in border areas. “They are issuing separate identity cards to people living in border areas. Never accept these cards.”
People living in the border areas of Bengal have been alleging harassment by the BSF. According to them, going out of the village for work has become a problem for them as the BSF personnel suspect them of being Bangladeshis.
CM Banerjee said, “The announcement of the implementation of CAA by the Center will cause trouble for the people of border areas.”
She said BJP wants to scare people with such an announcement. CM rallied support against what she characterised as an alliance between the Congress, CPM, and BJP in West Bengal, urging people to unite under the Trinamool Congress banner to counter this threat.
The BJP-led central government had approved CAA in 2019. The law has a provision to grant Indian citizenship to persecuted non-Muslim immigrants, including Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists, Parsis and Christians, from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan who arrived in India before December 31, 2014.
