Speaking to the media, West Bengal In-charge Kailash Vijayvargiya said: "We are hopeful that the process of granting citizenship to refugees under the CAA will begin from January next year".
"The Centre has passed the CAA with the honest intention of granting citizenship to persecuted refugees coming to our country from neighbouring nations," he added.
This announcement is significant in the light of upcoming assembly elections in West Bengal as it was early on expected to become one of the most-talked-about issues during the campaign.
Reacting to Vijayvargiya's remark, senior TMC leader and state minister Firhad Hakim said that the BJP is trying to fool the people in the state.
"What does the BJP mean by citizenship? If the Matuas are not citizens, how come they voted in assembly and parliamentary polls year after year? The BJP should stop fooling the people of West Bengal," he said.
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The Matuas hail from East Pakistan (present-day Bangladesh) orginally and started migrating to West Bengal in the 1950s primarily because of religious persecution.
Approximate 30 lakh people from the community presently live in West Bengal and can influence results in at least four Lok Sabha seats and 30-40 assembly constituencies in Nadia, North and South 24 Parganas districts.
Towards the end of 2019 and subsequently at the beginning of 2020, widespread protests were witnessed across the country wherein people expressed their opposition to the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) in association with National Register of Citizens (NRC). The nation looked divided into two groups over the issue.
The protests and general opposition to it was then impacted by the Coronavirus pandemic as places like Shaheen Bagh were cleared up to prevent its rapid spread.
(With Agency Inputs)
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