Kolkata: A political row erupted in West Bengal on Tuesday after Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Suvendu Adhikari claimed that the process of implementation of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) has started from Gujarat and Bengal will not be left out of it, drawing sharp criticism from the Trinamool Congress, the Congress and Left parties.
It comes a day after the Union government decided to grant citizenship to minorities mostly from Pakistan, who are living in Anand and Mehsana districts of Gujarat after migrating to India, under the Citizenship Act, 1955.
Though the October 31 notification by the Union ministry of home affairs (MHA) clearly states that members of Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi, and Christian communities residing in the two Gujarat districts will be allowed registration as a citizen under Section 5 or will be granted certificate of naturalisation under section 6 of the Citizenship Act, 1955, Adhikari, the leader of opposition in Bengal Assembly, claimed that the Centre has started enforcing CAA, 2019.
“The Centre has started the process of enforcing CAA. Gujarat is the first state. Bengal cannot be left out of the CAA implementation process,” Adhikari told reporters. “It is an old demand of our Matua community. The CAA will also be rolled out in our state.”
Union minister of state for shipping Shantanu Thakur backed the statements made by his party colleague and Nandigram legislator Adhikari.
{{/usCountry}}Union minister of state for shipping Shantanu Thakur backed the statements made by his party colleague and Nandigram legislator Adhikari.
{{/usCountry}}“The process has started with Gujarat. It will be done in other BJP-ruled states, such as Uttar Pradesh, as well,” said Thakur, who is also the president of All India Matua Mahasangha. “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 they will solve it through talks.”
However, the state’s ruling TMC said the party will never allow CAA to come into force in West Bengal.
“The BJP will not be able to roll out the CAA in the country. Suvendu Adhikari is making tall claims ahead of the 2023 panchayat polls (in West Bengal) as part of their effort to polarise the society,” alleged TMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh.
Both the Congress and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) also opposed the BJP leaders’ statements.
Bengal Congress president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury alleged that the BJP was 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,” he alleged.
CPI(M) central committee member Sujan Chakraborty said: “...The BJP cannot impose any such decision without any consensus. None of the secular parties in the country will allow this to happen.”
The CAA offers fast-tracked citizenship to non-Muslims who entered India from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh before 2015, but as the rules under the Act have not been framed by the Centre yet, no one so far could be granted citizenship under it.
The MHA’s decision in regard to Anand and Mehsana districts is not new. Earlier, 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.