Gopiballavpur: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday accused the Narendra Modi government of “orchestrating a lie” about granting citizenship to 14 people under the CAA and dubbed it as “politics during the polls”.
Speaking at back-to-back election rallies in Gopiballavpur and Daspur, Banerjee said “those granted citizenship will be thrown behind the bars by branding them as foreigners.”
Accusing a section of the media of publishing advertisements with photographs of the Prime Minister that boast about the achievements of the BJP government at the Centre without proper attribution, Banerjee said, “The BJP is publishing advertisements with false information. One such advertisement says that migrant Hindu and Sikh communities can apply for citizenship under the CAA. Please don’t believe them, you (the electorate) are all already bona fide citizens. If you apply, you will be driven out by being branded as a foreigner.”
“I have nothing against journalists, but how come the authorities of those publications allow such advertisements to be carried without any check,” she said.
Banerjee said the entire thing is a lie orchestrated by the BJP, just as they did in Sandeshkhali, where purported videos have emerged claiming that BJP workers had hatched a conspiracy to malign the TMC government in Bengal.
“The entire thing is a lie orchestrated by the BJP just as they did in Sandeshkhali. I urge my Matua brothers and sisters to not fall for it. This is falsehood and only a part of the politics before the elections. After the polls are over, people will be expelled from their homes and put in jails. Do not trust the BJP,” she said.
The first set of citizenship certificates under the Citizenship (Amendment) Act was issued on Wednesday to 14 people, nearly two months after rules under the contentious law were notified to grant Indian nationality to persecuted non-Muslim migrants from three neighbouring countries. This comes in the midst of the general elections which started on April 19.
The last phase of polling will be held on June 1 while the counting will take place on June 4.
The CAA was enacted in December 2019 for granting Indian nationality to persecuted Hindu, Sikh, Jain, Buddhist, Parsi and Christian migrants from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan who came to India on or before December 31, 2014.
After the enactment, the CAA got the President’s assent but the rules under which the Indian citizenship was granted were issued on March 11, after over a delay of four years.
Wondering why senior BJP leaders are not applying for CAA if they are so upbeat about the Act, she said, “I want to ask Modi and Amit Shah why don’t you apply for CAA in the first place. Show by example.”
She accused the BJP of orchestrating a plan to take away the rights of tribals and sow discord among different backward communities.
Speaking at an election rally in support of TMC’s Jhargram Lok Sabha candidate Kalipada Soren, Banerjee asserted that the BJP was aiming to uproot tribals by implementing the NRC, ultimately depriving them of their land rights.
Accusing the BJP of fomenting tension between Adivasis and Kurmis, Banerjee emphasised her administration’s dedication to safeguarding tribal land rights. “We have already passed a legislation to ensure that tribals can reside on their ancestral lands,” she added.
“BJP may want to drive out Adivasis, Kurmis and other backward castes through the NRC and engineer fights among them by introducing the Uniform Civil Code. But I vow to protect them till my last breath,” she added.
Describing the BJP as anti-tribal, Banerjee referred to jailed former Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren.
“The BJP has put behind the bars popular tribal leader Hemant Soren. I am in touch with his wife. This is the BJP, a party which believes in dictatorship and one party rule,” she said.
“If the INDIA bloc comes to power in Delhi, I assure the NRC will be scrapped. We will come up with laws that ensure tribals’ permanent right on their land,” she said.
Banerjee accused the CPI(M) of fostering unrest in the Jangalmahal region during its tenure, contrasting it with her government’s efforts to bring prosperity to the area since 2011.
“Since 2011, Junglemahal has been smiling. Don’t vote for BJP, don’t vote for ‘harmad’ (tormentor) CPI(M),” she said.
Without naming Jhargram BJP candidate Pranat Tudu, she said, “We could have stopped his nomination as he was a practicing physician at a state-run health facility, but we did not.” Tudu later resigned from his position as a state medical officer after being nominated by the BJP.
At a second meeting in Daspur within Ghatal LS seat where Dev is the TMC candidate, the TMC chairperson remarked, “Those who participated in the Freedom movement are not running the country. Instead, the nation is now under the grip of corrupt and greedy people who are selling national assets and using the money to spread false information about their achievements.”
Referring to migrant labourers from West Bengal, she accused the BJP of conspiring to remove their names from the voter list. “Please don’t be absent on the day of voting. The BJP is conspiring to deprive you of your voting rights by taking advantage of your absence. We will issue a separate card for you,” she said.
Banerjee later participated in a road show in the Midnapore Lok Sabha constituency in support of the party’s candidate, June Maliah.
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