'If You Have Guts, Stop It,' Says BJP's Suvendu Adhikari On Implementation Of CAA In West Bengal

The Nandigram MLA said, "We have talked about the CAA several times. The Citizenship Amendment Act will be rolled out in the state. If you have guts, stop it from being enforced."

BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari

New Delhi: Suvendu Adhikari, the leader of the Opposition in the West Bengal Assembly, stated on Saturday that residents with valid documents will not lose their citizenship and dared Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to stop the implementation of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) in the state.

During a meeting in North 24 Parganas district's Thakurnagar, an area dominated by the Matuas whose roots are in Bangladesh, Adhikari said the "CAA Act does not suggest that the citizenship of anyone will be taken away if one is a bonafide resident with legal documents", news agency PTI reported.

In an apparent reference to the CM, the Nandigram MLA further said, "We have talked about the CAA several times. The Citizenship Amendment Act will be rolled out in the state. If you have guts, stop it from being enforced."

"Matua community members will also be given citizenship," Adhikari said at the public meeting.

The CAA facilitates the grant of citizenship to migrants belonging to Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi and Christian communities from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan. However, because the Act's regulations have yet to be drafted by the government, no one so far could be granted citizenship under it.

The Narendra Modi government had "fulfilled one of its promises by abrogating Article 370 in Kashmir after winning the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Similarly, the BJP will fulfil its promise about CAA implementation....the central government does not believe in taking away rights of anyone. Our PM does not believe in divisive politics," the BJP leader said, as quoted by PTI.

The Matua community in the state is split into two camps - BJP and TMC.

Members of the community, who make for a large chunk of the state’s Scheduled Caste population, had been migrating to West Bengal since the 1950s, primarily due to religious persecution in erstwhile East Pakistan and then Bangladesh.

With an estimated 30 lakh Matuas in the state, the community has influence in at least five Lok Sabha seats and nearly 50 assembly seats in Nadia, North, and South 24 Parganas districts.

Union Minister and BJP MP from Bongaon Shantanu Thakur said the CAA will be "a reality in West Bengal and the Narendra Modi government is committed to realising the goal".

TMC leader and senior West Bengal minister Firhad Hakim said the BJP is playing with the CAA before the 2023 panchayat polls and the 2024 Lok Sabha elections with "an eye on vote bank politics".

"The BJP seeks to play the same CAA card when there is an election. But we will never allow that to happen," Hakim added. 

(With inputs from PTI)