KOLKATA: The mercury in West Bengal politics soared on Monday over the issue of implementation of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). While chief minister Mamata Banerjee, during her north Bengal visit, urged people not to fall into the CAA trap, Union minister Shantanu Thakur said the newly amended act would be implemented not only in Bengal but also across the country within seven days.
Addressing a gathering in Cooch Behar, Mamata said the CAA is being raked up again for electoral politics as the BSF is issuing “fake” identity cards. Meanwhile, Thakur, a representative of the Matua community comprising Hindu refugees from Bangladesh, guaranteed that the act would be implemented within a week when he was addressing a public gathering in South24 Parganas.
“We have given recognition to refugee colonies by issuing land deeds. The BSF is torturing people. It is issuing separate identity cards for people living in border areas. Do not accept it. Tell them that you have Aadhaar and ration cards and you do not need the fake card. If you accept the card, your name will be deleted from the NRC,” said Mamata, reminding that she fought against the Centre’s NRC and CAA move.
Countering Mamata in South 24 Parganas’ Kakdwip, a Matua-dominated pocket, Thakur, the Union minister for the state (shipping and waterways) and an MP from Bongaon, said, “The Ram Mandir in Ayodhya has been inaugurated, and within next seven days, the CAA will be implemented in Bengal and other states across the country. This is my guarantee from this dais.”
The promise of implementing the controversial act was a major poll plank of the BJP in the last Lok Sabha elections and Assembly polls in Bengal. The support extended by Matuas, a Hindu religious sect comprising refugees from Bangladesh, helped the saffron camp expand its base in West Bengal. Matuas, who form a sizable chunk of the electorate in north and south Bengal districts bordering Bangladesh, are expected to benefit the most from the CAA’s implementation.
In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the BJP took its tally to 18 from two in Bengal and 77 from three in the House of Bengal Assembly in the 2021 polls.
During his Kolkata visit last month, Union Home minister Amit Shah also reiterated that implementation of CAA was inevitable while accusing Mamata of misleading people.
BJP leaders from the Matua community, on several occasions, expressed their discontent over the delay of CAA’s implementation. The BJP’s Bengal leadership admitted that retaining the Matua vote-bank would be difficult without CAA’s implementation.
Reacting to Mamata’s allegation against the BJP, saffron camp spokesperson Shamik Bhattacharya hit out at the Bengal chief minister saying there is no difference between her statements and those of a separatist. “Her statement will encourage anti-national forces,” he said.