The Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) will be enforced as soon as the Covid-19 pandemic gets over, Union home minister Amit Shah said in West Bengal on Thursday, accusing the ruling Trinamool Congress in the state of spreading rumours about the central law.
Although the controversial law was passed in 2019, the rules on how it is to be implemented have not been framed yet, and the government has said this will happen once the pandemic ends.
Shah also said that the prices of petrol and diesel were higher in West Bengal as compared to states ruled by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) because chief minister Mamata Banerjee was not reducing local levies on fuel.
“Bengal is the only Indian state where price of petrol is ₹115 per litre. In BJP-ruled states, the price is ₹105. The Bengal government charges 25% Value Added Tax (VAT) in addition to local state tax,” Shah said at a rally in north Bengal on Thursday during his first visit to the state since the 2021 assembly elections.
The TMC earlier said that said that it will not reduce VAT until the Centre reduces its taxes on fuel and the state gets its pending GST dues. “It is the Centre that is increasing fuel prices every day. It is looting common people,” Mamata Banerjee said in Kolkata on Thursday afternoon.
{{/usCountry}}The TMC earlier said that said that it will not reduce VAT until the Centre reduces its taxes on fuel and the state gets its pending GST dues. “It is the Centre that is increasing fuel prices every day. It is looting common people,” Mamata Banerjee said in Kolkata on Thursday afternoon.
{{/usCountry}}Shah also said the BJP will not rest till it uproots the TMC’s tyrannical rule from the state. Attacking the TMC government on several fronts at the rally in Siliguri town, Shah said corruption, nepotism and political violence have increased in Bengal after the 2021 polls while development and welfare have taken the back seat. His visit comes a year after the state polls which the TMC won comfortably, although the run-up to it saw an intense fight between it and the BJP.
Shah also took a swipe at Banerjee for sending fact-finding teams to Uttar Pradesh after some crimes. “Did you send fact-finding teams to Birbhum where eight women were burnt alive (on March 21) or to Nadia where a minor girl was raped (on April 4)?” asked Shah.
Shah reiterated that the CAA — which Banerjee has vehemently opposed — will be enforced in West Bengal as soon as the Covid-19 pandemic ends.
“Mamata Banerjee wants illegal infiltration to continue while refugees languish. We will not let this happen. TMC is spreading rumours about CAA, saying it will not be enforced. I promise you today that once the corona(virus) pandemic ends, we will enforce it in Bengal. We will ensure that refugees from Bangladesh get Indian citizenship. It is a matter of months. It was reality, it is reality and it will be a reality,” said Shah.
The law offers citizenship to non-Muslims from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh who entered India before 2015. The TMC insists that the law is unconstitutional as it links citizenship to faith in a secular country. Bengal’s Dalit Matua community has demanded immediate implementation of the CAA.
Banerjee responded to Shah’s comments and said he was misleading people by spreading false information. “He comes and makes the same promise over and over again. I have said it (CAA) is not necessary because all Bengalis are Indian citizens.”
Reacting to Shah’s reference to crimes in Bengal, the CM said, “He is not the home minister of Bengal. Law and order is a state subject. As India’s home minister, he should focus on the violence at Jahangirpuri in Delhi.” She was referring to the communal violence that erupted at northwest Delhi’s Jahangirpuri during a Hanuman Jayanti procession on April 16.
At the Siliguri rally, Shah explained why he did not visit Bengal for the past year.
“I have stepped on Bengal’s soil after one year. I was waiting to see if Mamata Didi (elder sister) rectifies herself. She has not,” Shah said, asking the crowd to applaud so loudly that the noise could reach Kolkata where Banerjee was celebrating the first anniversary of her government’s third term. She was sworn in as chief minister on May 5 last year.
Dalit leader Shantanu Thakur, the BJP Lok Sabha member from Bongaon, who was made minister of state for ports, shipping and waterways during the Union cabinet reshuffle last year, briefly met Shah on Thursday when the latter attended programmes of the Border Security Force (BSF) along the India-Bangladesh border in North 24 Parganas district.
Shah also launched a new surveillance and petrol vessel of the BSF. Addressing a gathering, Shah said: “It is impossible to stop transborder smuggling and infiltration without the cooperation of the local government. I assure that a political situation will soon evolve in which this cooperation will come automatically.”
On Friday, Shah will visit north Bengal’s Teen Bigha border with BSF officials. He will fly back to Kolkata. After meeting state BJP leaders, Shah will attend a cultural event to be held by the Union ministry of culture to celebrate the inclusion of Bengal’s Durga Puja in UNESCO’s list of Intangible Cultural Heritage. The event will be held at the Victoria Memorial Hall.
Mamata Banerjee said it is because of her government that UNESCO gave the recognition. “BJP leaders campaigned that we do not let people celebrate Durga Puja in Bengal.”
There were unconfirmed reports that Shah might have dinner at the Kolkata residence of former Indian cricket captain and incumbent BCCI president Sourav Ganguly on Friday night.
“Anybody can have dinner anywhere. We should ask Sourav to treat him (Shah) with lots of mishti doi and rasagolla,” Banerjee quipped.
There was no official confirmation from the BJP on the dinner. The former cricketer also did not say anything about the dinner till late in the night on Thursday.
At the BJP rally, Shah addressed the Gorkha community without referring to their demand for a separate state of Gorkhaland.
“Didi misleads our Gorkha brothers and sisters. Only the BJP feels for them. We will solve all their problems according to the provisions of the Constitution. Didi, holding the GTA (Gorkha Territorial Administration) elections will not solve the problems,” Shah said.