As the Lok Sabha elections draw near, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee lashed out at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), claiming that the party has once again begun yelling “CAA CAA” in an attempt to win votes.
“We’ve engaged in combat with the NRC. Indian citizens make up the Rajbanshis. During a public distribution program on Monday in Cooch Behar, West Bengal, Mamata Banerjee stated, “They have started shouting CAA, CAA again for the sake of votes.”
Following Union Minister Shantanu Thakur’s announcement on Sunday that the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) will be put into effect nationwide in a week, Banerjee made her comments.
According to the Chief Minister of West Bengal, all colonies are now recognized by their government as “permanent addresses,” and all citizens of the nation are those who live there and receive various benefits from the state government.
“You are all citizens. Every colony now has a permanent address from us. Their benefits include ration cards, free education, scholarships, Kisan Bandhu, Shikhashree, Oikoshree, and Laxmir Bhandar. If they hadn’t been citizens, how could they have benefited from these things? If they weren’t citizens, could they still have cast ballots?” Banerjee asked a query.
Banerjee lashed out at the central government for mishandling central agencies, asking, “Recall the Sitalkuchi case? Four people have already been fatally shot by the CISF. People are shot as though they were zamindars. File a FIR right away if someone in your village is oppressing you. They use agencies to hold elections and instill fear.”
According to a number of reports, four people in Sitalkuchi, West Bengal, died after being dismissed by the CISF during the 2021 assembly elections.
Banerjee accused the BJP of abusing the Enforcement Directorate and the Central Bureau of Investigation to intimidate political rivals, saying, “They call leaders and threaten to send ED to your homes if you do not come with us. How will the ED proceed? How will the CBI proceed? They might not be here tomorrow, but they are here today.”
The Narendra Modi government’s Citizenship Act (CAA) seeks to grant Indian citizenship to non-Muslim migrants who have been persecuted and who arrived in India before December 31, 2014, including Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists, Parsis, and Christians. After the CAA was approved by Parliament in December 2019 and the President signed it into law, there were large-scale demonstrations across the nation.
