Kolkata: BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari on Monday said that CAA, which has been the demand of Hindu refugees since 1945, is going to be fulfilled.
He added that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah have committed to its implementation and the time has come to fulfil it.
“Let the rule come out; it will be done immediately. The demand of the Hindu refugees, which has been there since 1945, is going to be fulfilled. Modi ji had promised in Thakur Nagar, and Amit Shah had committed again and again. The time has come to fulfil it; time is knocking on the door,” Suvendu Adhikari told ANI.
Meanwhile, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee hit out at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Monday, saying that the party has again started crying “CAA CAA” for the sake of votes as Lok Sabha elections are approaching.
“We have fought against the NRC. Rajbanshis are citizens of India. They have again started shouting CAA, CAA for the sake of votes,” Mamata Banerjee said at a public distribution programme in West Bengal’s Cooch Behar on Monday.
Banerjee’s remarks came after Union Minister Shantanu Thakur said on Sunday that the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) would be implemented across the country in a week.
The West Bengal Chief Minister said that her government has acknowledged all colonies as “permanent addresses,” and all residents who get the benefit of various state government benefits are citizens of the country.
“All of you are citizens. We have given permanent addresses to all colonies. They get rations, go to school, get scholarships, and get Kisan Bandhu, Shikhashree, Oikoshree, and Laxmir Bhandar. How could they get these benefits if they had not been citizens? Had they been able to cast votes if they were not citizens?” Banerjee questioned.
The CAA, introduced by the Narendra Modi government, aims to confer Indian citizenship to persecuted non-Muslim migrants, including Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists, Parsis, and Christians, who migrated from Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Afghanistan and arrived in India before December 31, 2014. Following the passage of the CAA by Parliament in December 2019 and its subsequent presidential assent, significant protests erupted in various parts of the country.
