News Analysis India

Tag: CAA

  • BJP made fake promises to Matuas, CAA implementation won’t happen anytime soon: TMC

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: The TMC on Wednesday claimed that the BJP was trying to fox the Matua sect — a community of migrants from Bangladesh — with the promise of implementing the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) sometime soon, as the deadline for framing its rules has been extended till July.

    State minister Bratya Basu, during a press meet here, said the saffron party is planning to garner support by organising ‘rath yatra’ ahead of assembly polls, but its “fake and divisive” politics for individual gains stand exposed.

    “The BJP is practising divisive politics in Assam and Bengal over CAA implementation, notwithstanding the fact that it has adversely affected the Hindu populace among others in the neighbouring state.

    “The Home Ministry’s statement on CAA in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday has brought to light the saffron camp’s fake politics to woo the Matua community in the state,” the TMC leader said at the party headquarters here.

    Basu said that the deadline for framing the CAA rules has been extended, and the law wouldn’t be implemented anytime before the assembly polls.

    Union Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai said in a written reply in Parliament on Tuesday that the “rules under the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 are under preparation.

    The Committees on Subordinate Legislation, Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha have granted extension of time up to April 9 and July 9 respectively to frame these rules under the CAA”.

    The TMC leader claimed that Home Minister Amit Shah probably cancelled his public meeting in Matua stronghold in North 24 Parganas last week, as the promise made to them on CAA implementation might not be fulfilled.

    He maintained that the community has every right to be angry about this development, and asked the Centre to clarify its stand on the citizenship law.

    Shah’s two-day tour of the state from January 30 was cancelled following a low-intensity IED blast near the Israel Embassy in New Delhi.

    Asserting that CAA implementation would also hurt the interests of Bengali Hindus, he recalled that “19 lakh Bengali refugees were sent to detention camps in Assam, following the NRC exercise”.

    Taking a jibe at the saffron camp over its plans to hold a ‘rath yatra’, Basu said, “Sri Chaitanya, who had preached togetherness and equality, is associated with the cultural and religious carnival, mainly celebrated in Odisha.

    “A Muslim man was also instrumental in organising the original yatra. The saffron party, however, is opposed to those ideals.”

    The CAA, passed by the Parliament in 2019, aims to grant citizenship to non-Muslim migrants who moved to India from neighbouring countries to escape religious persecution.

    The National Register of Citizens (NRC) is a document containing names of all genuine Indian citizens.

    It was updated in Assam two years ago.

  • Citizenship Act rules ‘under preparation’, Centre gets six more months

    By ANI
    NEW DELHI:  The rules under the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) are under preparation and the committees on Subordinate Legislation of the two Houses have granted an extension of time, the government informed the Lok Sabha on Tuesday.

    In a written reply, Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai said the Act was notified on in December 2019 and has come into effect from January 10 last year.

    “The Rules under The Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 (CAA) are under preparation. The Committees on Subordinate Legislation, Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha have granted extension of time up to April 9, 2021, and July 9, 2021 respectively to frame these rules under the Act,” he said.

  • Bengal polls: BJP leaders visit Matua belt to ease discontent after Shah cancels visit

    Express News Service
    KOLKATA: In a bid to ease the discontent of Matuas triggered by the cancellation of Amit Shah’s West Bengal visit on Saturday, BJP’s top-level functionaries visited the religious sect’s headquarters at Thakurnagar in Bongaon, North 24 Parganas, on Saturday and assured that the Union Home Minister would come to the area shortly.

    The national vice president of BJP Mukul Roy and national general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya went to Bongaon and met local BJP MP Shantanu Thakur, a representative of Matuas.

    “Amitji’s event had to be cancelled because of the unavoidable situation in Delhi. He called Vijayvargiyaji and talked to Shantanu Thakur over the phone. There is no reason to get disappointed. He (Shah) assured that he would visit the area any day in the near future,” said Roy.

    Roy also said the stage which was set up for Shah’s visit would not be dismantled. “It will be kept ready. Matuas will be informed shortly when Amitji is coming here and thousands of people will spill over the ground where the Union Home Minister will address a rally,” he added.

    Shah’s Bongaon visit was a much-awaited event as the followers of the religious sect wanted him to announce a deadline for giving them citizenship by implementing CAA. Matuas belonging to the scheduled caste community, who had migrated from Bangladesh after the 1947 Partition and 1971 war, voted for the BJP in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections en bloc after the saffron camp had promised them citizenship.

    ALSO READ | Rajib Banerjee quits as MLA, thanks CM Mamata for ‘opportunity to serve masses’

    Banking on Matuas’ support, BJP’s deep inroads resulted in a massive jolt to the ruling Trinamool Congress, which failed to retain two Lok Sabha seats in south Bengal—Bongaon, and Ranaghat.

    Bengal BJP functionaries planned to bring Shah to Matua stronghold after the local MP, on several occasions, expressed his discontent for not implementing the contentious CAA and saying, “I don’t know what will be Matuas’ political alignment in the upcoming Assembly elections if the citizenship promise is not kept.”

    Using the cancellation of Shah’s visit as a political tool to regain the support-base, former TMC MP of the area Mamatabala Thakur alleged the BJP insulted Matuas by giving them a false promise of citizenship before last year’s general elections. “He (Shah) could have come here today for a few hours as the incident (the blast in Delhi) took place. It is a fact that the BJP has nothing to say before Matuas,” she said.

  • Mamata Banerjee plays CAA card to win back Matua support

    By Express News Service
    KOLKATA: Ratcheting up her rhetoric against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), Mamata Banerjee on Monday fired a fresh volley at the BJP in an attempt to draw the Matua population away from the saffron camp. Matuas are Hindu immigrants from Bangladesh counting on the implementation of CAA to gain Indian citizenship, a desire the BJP capitalised on during the last Lok Sabha election. 

    “Why do you (Matua) need citizenship? You are already citizens,” said Mamata, addressing the electorate at Ranaghat in Nadia on Monday. Mamata’s Monday rally was an attempt to regain the ground it lost to BJP in Nadia in the last hustings. “I will never allow the BJP to implement CAA or NRC. It (BJP) is trying to hoodwink people,” she said at what was her citadel before the saffron wave swept across the region, which accounts for over 40 per cent of the Matua electorate that supported the BJP in 2019. 

    Tapping into the simmering discontent among the Matuas over the delay in the implementation of CAA, Mamata reiterated her position that the Act would entail the Centre demanding documents related to date of birth of elderly parents. “Most of them do not have such documents. If your parents fail to submit the documents, they will be driven out of the country. So, in the upcoming elections, drive the BJP out of Bengal to protect your family,” she said. 

    Mamata has been into an overdrive to draw the Matuas away from the BJP by playing up their citizenship fears. Last month, she addressed a rally in Bongaon in North 24 Parganas and on Monday, she was in Ranaghat. Electorate at both the seats is predominantly Matua and Dalit immigrants from Bangladesh. Mamta’s attempt is aided by the studied silence maintained by the BJP leadership. Recently, BJP MP from Bongaon Shantanu Thakur had expressed his discontent over the delay and hinted at possible shift in Matuas’ political allegiance.

  • ‘You have already become Indian citizens’: Mamata tells Matuas at rally

    By Express News Service
    KOLKATA: Challenging the BJP’s poll plank of citizenship for Matuas, Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee on Monday addressed a rally in Nadia’s Ranaghat — one of her erstwhile citadels comprising more than 40 per cent of Matua electorates who turned to be vote-bank of the saffron party in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. 

    Aiming to woo the support of the Matua community, the CM asked: “They (the BJP) hoodwinked the people living in the region. I will not allow the Centre to implement NRC and CAA in Bengal. Why do you need citizenship? You have already become Indian citizens.” 

    The CM said the Centre would ask for documents related to date of birth of the elderly. “Most of them do not have their date of birth documents. If your parents fail to submit the documents, they will be driven out of the country. So in the upcoming elections, drive the BJP out of Bengal to protect your family members,” Mamata said in her speech.

    As the discontent among the Matuas, comprising Hindu migrants from neighboring Bangladesh, has surfaced on many occasions in the recent past over the issue of delay in implementing the CAA, Mamata decided not to miss the opportunity to regain her party’s support base. 

    Last month, she had addressed a rally in Bongaon in North 24 Parganas and on Monday, she was in Nadia’s Ranaghat, both the seats dominated by Matuas and Dalits migrated from Bangladesh.

    Though the BJP bagged victory in both the seats in the last year’s general elections riding the citizenship rhetoric, the party’s national leadership including national president JP Nadda and Union Home minister Amit Shah dodged the issue whenever asked about the deadline to implement the new Act. 

    BJP MP in Bongaon Shantanu Thakur recently hinted at possible changes in Matuas’ political allegiance in the upcoming elections and demanded an announcement of the deadline to implement the CAA. Following this, Amit Shah’s Bengal visit was scheduled for January 30. He is expected to assure the Dalit electorates on citizenship.

    Taking a jibe at the BJP on its ‘Sonar Bangla’ rhetoric, Mamata said, “West Bengal has already been turned into Sonar Bangla. Bengal is now heading towards the goal of ‘Biswa Bangla’.

    Referring to TMC functionaries’ migration to the BJP, Bengal CM said the turncoats changed sides to protect their money. “They made a huge volume of money. Now BJP is offering the deal saying they can join the party and protect the money or face probe by the CBI or ED,” she alleged.

  • People have rejected opposition’s ‘lies and hypocrisy’: BJP

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: The BJP said on Wednesday that people have rejected the opposition’s politics of “lies and hypocrisy”, as it cited the recent Karnataka gram panchayat poll results to assert that voters have put their faith in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s development agenda.

      Addressing a press conference here, BJP spokesperson and Rajya Sabha member Rajeev Chandrasekhar alleged that opposition parties have been trying to incite groups of citizens as he referred to farmers’ protest against three agri laws and also the earlier agitation against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act.

    Noting that he is speaking in the context of a string of elections in the southern state, he said the BJP has been winning them, be it assembly bypolls or MLC elections or the recent rural body polls.

      This “overwhelming” mandate in favour of the BJP against some opposition parties’ politics of “lies and hypocrisy” shows people’s trust in the leadership of Modi and Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa, he said.

      People have backed the measures taken by the central government for the agriculture sector, he claimed.

      The BJP leader added the government is sincere in its talks with farmer unions to end their protests and said commitment to farmers is an “article of faith” for the party.

      Over 55.4 per cent gram panchayats in the state are BJP-supported and 53 per cent members are BJP supporters, he claimed.

      This result has come against the backdrop of opposition parties’ “falsehoods” to mislead farmers, he said.

      Since the BJP came to power at the Centre, the party has won 14 of 17 assembly bypolls and emerged victor in all four MLC seat elections, he said.

    Amid protests by farmers, thousands of whom have been agitating at the Delhi borders, and opposition parties’ support to them, the BJP has cited results in a number of elections across the country to assert that the farm laws enjoy support from a vast majority of farmers.

      Chandrasekhar said the message people of the country have given time and again is they want development and governance and trust Modi.