– Shabana Javed
Kolkata, March 15: The Union Government on March 12 notified the rules for implementing the contentious Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). The CAA was passed in 2019 but it has been notified just ahead of the announcement of dates for the Lok Sabha elections, arousing grave concerns across the country. The civil society in West Bengal is also protesting it in full voice.
In 2019, the civil society protested against this law. Now the city witnessed yet another anti-CAA rally after the notification was issued. A number of civil society organizations have started formulating strategies to initiate a campaign against the BJP prior to general elections.
In an attempt to create a broad coalition of organizations, a gathering of lawmakers, civil society members, and social activists is being organized at the seminar hall of Academy of Fine Arts here Saturday.
According to sources, these organizations intend to launch a “no vote to BJP” campaign.
In advance of general elections, the CAA-2019 announcement is a “shrewd scheme to foment strife and divide throughout the nation”. The announcement also signifies the formalization of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) procedure. A member of Joint Forum Against NRC, an umbrella organization of groups with similar goals, Manzar Jamil said, “This is the time to unite and make people aware of how the government is committing fraud in the name of giving citizenship.”
“There are refugees in Bengal, and many of them have major problems related to their citizenship documents. The assurance that the CAA will handle all their issues is nothing but a lie. In order to ensure that this divisive legislation is naturally rejected, we will reach out to people throughout the state, particularly in border areas, to persuade them not to fall into the CAA trap and reject the BJP,” said Jamil.
In places where Matua people predominate, forum members intend to conduct door-to-door campaigns and several other programs.
About 30 people from various societal sectors issued a united statement on Tuesday, criticizing the government initiatives. The CPM’s Fuad Halim, Congressman Kanhaiya Kumar, theater and film actor Koushik Sen, and economist Jayati Ghosh were among the signatories.
The Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and Other Backward Classes organization Tapasili Federation wrote a letter to Union Home Minister Amit Shah, requesting that all immigrants from Bangladesh be granted full citizenship. “How do those who nearly fled their Bangladeshi homes without a trace obtain documentation of their ties to neighboring countries? For fear of being recognized as illegal immigrants, the folks are not even visiting the citizenship website,” Mrityunjay Mallik, the organization’s national president said.
