West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in Siliguri, on Jan. 29, 2024.
| Photograph Credit score: PTI
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday lambasted the BJP for elevating the CAA challenge forward of the Lok Sabha polls, asserting that she is going to by no means enable its implementation within the state throughout her lifetime.
Talking at a public distribution programme at Raiganj in Uttar Dinajpur district, she alleged that the BJP “opportunistically raised” the difficulty of the Citizenship (Modification) Act or CAA forward of the upcoming elections.
“With elections approaching, the BJP has once more raked up the CAA challenge to reap political advantages. However let me make it very clear that so long as I’m alive, I can’t enable its implementation in West Bengal,” Ms. Banerjee affirmed, echoing sentiments expressed on the day gone by.
Her remarks had been prompted by Union minister and BJP chief Shantanu Thakur’s current assertion that the CAA could be rolled out throughout the nation inside every week.
Mr. Thakur’s assertion, made throughout a public gathering at Kakdwip in South 24 Parganas district on Sunday, fueled issues concerning the upcoming enforcement of the controversial laws.
The CAA, enacted by the BJP-led authorities on the Centre in 2019, seeks to grant Indian citizenship to persecuted non-Muslim immigrants, together with Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists, Parsis, and Christians, from Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Afghanistan who entered India earlier than December 31, 2014.
Expressing alarm over stories of the Border Safety Power (BSF) allegedly issuing separate id playing cards to residents in border areas, Ms. Banerjee cautioned individuals towards accepting such playing cards, labelling these as potential instruments in an “NRC lure”.
“They’re issuing separate id playing cards to individuals residing in border areas. By no means settle for these playing cards. It is a lure,” Ms. Banerjee warned, emphasising the necessity for vigilance amongst border communities.
Ms. Banerjee’s assertions align together with her earlier claims in Cooch Behar district, the place she accused the BSF of comparable actions, a cost denied by the paramilitary drive.
The CM rallied assist towards what she characterised as an alliance between the Congress, CPI(M), and BJP in West Bengal, urging individuals to unite beneath the Trinamool Congress (TMC) banner to counter this perceived risk.
“It’s the TMC that’s preventing for the rights of the individuals of the state. All of us need to unite to defeat the Congress-CPI(M)-BJP nexus in Bengal,” Ms. Banerjee mentioned, calling for solidarity amongst residents.
Her remarks comply with her current announcement of the TMC’s resolution to contest the upcoming Lok Sabha polls in West Bengal alone.
