Kolkata: Union Home Minister Amit Shah asserted Sunday that the Centre would not stop until all refugees in the country are granted citizenship under the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). He accused the opposition, including the Trinamool Congress (TMC), of misguiding refugees and minorities over the new law.
Not a single person will lose citizenship because of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA), Shah said while addressing his first public rally here since the 2019 General elections.
“The opposition is terrorising the minorities. I assure every person from the minority community that the CAA only provides citizenship, does not take it away. It won’t affect your citizenship,” Shah told the huge gathering.
“The opposition parties are spreading canards that refugees will have to show papers but this is absolutely false. You don’t have to show any paper. We will not stop until all refugees are granted citizenship,” asserted Shah.
The Union Home Minister accused West Bengal Chief Minister and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee of ‘fuelling riots’ during anti-Citizenship (Amendment) Act protests last year when trains and railway stations were burnt, and challenged her to stop the implementation of the CAA.
Shah said Prime Minister Narendra Modi brought CAA to give citizenship to the refugees, but Banerjee’s TMC and other opposition parties were opposing it.
With the crucial 2021 state elections in mind, Shah also accused Banerjee of opposing citizenship to Dalits, while referring to the backward Matua community, which with a population of around 30 lakh is a deciding factor in around 40 Assembly seats.
“I want to ask her (Mamata Banerjee), what harm did Dalits do to you? Why are you protesting when we want to give them citizenship? While protesting and opposing the CAA, you’re also opposing the social reforms of (Matua sect founders) Harichand Thakur and Guruchand Thakur,” Shah stated.
Listing out the priorities of the Narendra Modi government, Shah said that in its second term, the dispensation is focusing on of national security along with welfare policies.
“Our government has removed Article 370 from Kashmir and fulfilled the dream of Syama Prasad Mookerjee… Within a few months, a grand Ram temple will come up in Ayodhya, for which we have been waiting for 500 years,” Shah pointed out.
Targetting the TMC government in the state, Shah expressed anguish over the ‘worsening” law-and-order situation in West Bengal’. He exuded confidence that the BJP will come to power in West Bengal in 2021 with a two-third majority. Once the BJP is voted to power, a son of the soil would become the chief minister and end dynastic politics currently prevalent, Shah pointed out.
At the rally, Shah virtually set in motion the BJP’s campaign for the upcoming civic body elections and also launched the party’s ‘Aar Noi Annay’ (no more injustice) campaign for the next year’s assembly elections.
“With this ‘Aar Noi Annay’ slogan, we will change the government in the state and usher in Sonar Bangla (golden Bengal). If you give five years to Narendra Modi, we will turn Bengal into Sonar Bangla,” Shah said amid thunderous cheers.
Shah also charged the TMC government of not allowing ‘central welfare policies to be implemented in the state’ and misusing central funds. Shah also alleged that West Bengal’s debt has nearly doubled despite a substantial increase in central funds under Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
“There is a debt of Rs 3.75 lakh crore on Bengal. The communist government left at Rs 1.92 lakh crore, and Mamata Didi made it even bigger. The central funds have become fodder to corruption in the Mamata Banerjee government,” Shah said.
The TMC leadership was quick to return the fire, asking Shah to apologise for ‘failing’ to save innocent lives during the Delhi violence.
“Rather than coming and preaching in Bengal, Amit Shah you should have explained and apologised for failing to save more than 50 innocent lives in Delhi Violence right under your nose,” TMC leader and chief minister’s nephew Abhishek Banerjee said in a tweet. “Mr Shah, Bengal is better off without bigotry and hatred that the BJP is trying to spread,” he added.