'Further delay in CAA implementation to hurt BJP's support base in Bengal': Party MLA
KOLKATA: Exuding confidence that Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) would be implemented before the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, BJP MLA Asim Sarkar on Friday said that any further delay in implementing the law would hurt the party's support base among refugees The ruling TMC, which has been opposed to CAA, said it would never allow the "draconian law" to come into effect in the state.
Sarkar, a BJP legislator from Matua community-dominated Haringhata, said that a section of refugees had trusted the saffron party as it promised to implement the law, and accordingly ensured its victory in 18 Lok Sabha seats of the state in 2019.
Matuas, who make up a large chunk of the state's Scheduled Caste population, had been migrating to West Bengal from erstwhile East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) since the 1950s, primarily due to religious persecution.
"We are hopeful that CAA will be implemented before the next Lok Sabha polls. If it is not implemented, it will hurt the party's support base among the refugees."
"If anyone is serious about the cause of the refugees, it is the BJP; other parties have opposed the CAA. I won't be able to seek votes for the party in those areas (where refugees have settled) next time if it's not implemented," he told reporters.
Sarkar also said he had written to Union Home Minister Amit Shah, explaining the "consequences" if CAA, passed in December 2019, is not brought into force.
The promise of implementing the controversial CAA had been a major poll plank of the BJP in the last Lok Sabha electionsand state polls.
Downplaying Sarkar's concerns, West Bengal BJP spokesperson Samik Bhattacharya said, "It was an emotional outburst. The party will speak to him."
The ruling TMC, however, asserted it would never allow the BJP to implement the law.
"We don't believe in the divisive politics of the BJP," state parliamentary affairs minister Partha Chatterjee said.
CAA seeks to grant Indian citizenship to persecuted minorities like Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists, Parsis and Christians from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan, who had entered India on or before December 31, 2014.
The Centre has said that citizenship to the eligible beneficiaries of CAA will be given only after rules under the legislation are notified.
Around 30 lakh Matuas reside in West Bengal, with the community electorally influencing at least five Lok Sabha seats and nearly 50 assembly seats in Nadia, North and South 24 Parganas districts.