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West Bengal BJP links CAA and MHA decision on citizenship to migrants in Gujarat
The Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019 offers fast-tracked citizenship to non-Muslims who entered India from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh before 2015
The decision by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) to grant citizenship certificates to members of Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi and Christian communities from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan, living in two districts of Gujarat, has triggered a political row in West Bengal over the implementation of the contentious Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), 2019.
Although the MHA’s October 31 notification clearly states that district collectors of Anand and Mehsana in Gujarat will grant citizenship certificates to members of the aforementioned six communities under Section 16 of the Citizenship Act 1955, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders in WB claimed that the Centre has started enforcing CAA, 2019.
The Congress, the Left, Trinamool Congress (TMC) and other opposition parties are opposed to CAA, the rules for which are yet to be notified. These parties claimed on Monday that the BJP government at the Centre is trying to influence Gujarat voters before the assembly elections later this year.
West Bengal BJP leaders claimed that rules for CAA have already been framed.
“The Centre has started the process of enforcing CAA. Gujarat is the first state. It will be implemented in West Bengal as well. It is an old demand of our Matua community. The Centre earlier said that rules for CAA were being framed,” leader of the opposition in the WB assembly, Suvendu Adhikari, said on Tuesday.
Union minister of state and All India Matua Mahasangha president Shantanu Thakur backed Adhikari.
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“The process has started with Gujarat. It will be done in other BJP-ruled states as well, such as Uttar Pradesh. Implementing CAA in Bengal may lead to problems because of India’s federal structure. Though I am not aware of the MHA’s plans, I am sure it will solve it through talks,” Thakur said.
The Matuas are a part of the large Dalit Namasudra community that migrated from East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) during India’s partition in 1947 and the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War to escape religious persecution.
The CAA 2019 offers fast-tracked citizenship to non-Muslims who entered India from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh before 2015. The TMC insists that the law is unconstitutional as it links citizenship to faith in a secular country.
Thakur, the Lok Sabha member from Bongaon, said, “I have been demanding implementation of CAA in Bengal for a long time.”
Thakur was made the minister of state for ports, shipping and waterways during the Union cabinet reshuffle last year. This was seen as a move by the BJP central leadership to keep the Matuas happy.
Thakur even accompanied Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the latter’s visit to Bangladesh on the eve of the 2021 West Bengal assembly polls. Modi offered prayers at the Matua temple at Orakandi near Dhaka and praised Thakur in his speech, triggering a sharp reaction from chief minister Mamata Banerjee.
In February last year, Union home minister Amit Shah announced during his visit to Thakur’s constituency that the Centre will enforce CAA once Covid-19 vaccination across the country is over and the pandemic ends.
With panchayat polls scheduled to be held in WB in March-April next year, the issue triggered a row on Monday.
Mamata Bala Thakur, Shantanu Thakur’s aunt and former TMC Lok Sabha member from Bongaon, said CAA does not figure among the demands of the Matuas.
“We are already citizens of India. How can someone offer citizenship to people who have proof of citizenship, have jobs and cast their votes? The action taken in Gujarat is part of a political strategy before the state polls,” she said.
West Bengal Congress president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury countered the MHA’s October 31 move, saying the BJP is creating divisions even among refugees.
“Why doesn’t the Centre offer citizenship to refugees from Sri Lanka and Myanmar? Don’t they have rights? The BJP is focusing only on Islamic nations to create hatred in our society,” said Chowdhury.
The MHA’s decision in regard to Anand and Mehsana districts is not new. The Centre empowered several district collectors in Gujarat, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Punjab and Haryana to grant citizenship certificates to migrants from the six communities in 2016, 2018 and 2021.
The certificates are given to only those who entered India with valid documents and applied for Indian citizenship.
