The Joint Forum Against NRC, a conglomerate of organisations protesting against the citizenship tripod, on Friday said Union home minister Amit Shah was bluffing when he told the Matua community that the Citizenship Amendment Act would be implemented after the completion of the Covid-19 vaccination drive.
“There is a disconnect between the demand from the Matuas and the provisions contained in the law that the Parliament passed. The Matuas want unconditional citizenship while the law doesn’t include such a provision. Union home minister is bluffing the Matuas by saying that citizenship would be offered after the completion of the vaccination,” said Prasenjit Bose, convenor of the forum.
NEW DELHI: Dec. 11 marked the first anniversary of the passing of the controversial Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) in India.
However, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which introduced the law with much fanfare, has failed to implement the legislation. Some experts suggest this is a result of “domestic and international political pressure.”
“The BJP is trying to find a way out of the contradictions it finds itself in after (introducing) the CAA,” said Snigdhendhu Bhattacharya, a journalist in Kolkata and author of “Mission Bengal: A Saffron Experiment.”
“The party finds great resistance to the CAA in the northeastern state of Assam but is amenable to implementing it in Bengal, where it sees a great electoral dividend in the coming regional elections in April. The party is not able to balance the interests of Assam and Bengal.”
The BJP has said Union home minister Amit Shah’s visit to the Matua stronghold of Thakurnagar during his two-day Bengal tour was cancelled. BJP sources said the cancellation of the visit suggested that the Centre was not yet ready to implement the Citizenship Amendment Act, a major demand of the Matuas.
Instead of Thakurnagar in the Bongaon Lok Sabha constituency, Shah will go to West Midnapore on the Day 1 of his Bengal tour from December 19.
“Amitji is coming (to Bengal) as scheduled but the plan to visit Thakurnagar has been changed. He will visit West Midnapore to take stock of the party’s organisation in the Midnapore zone,” said state BJP vice-president Biswapriyo Roy Chowdhury, who is also the in-charge of the party’s Nabadwip zone, under which the Bongaon parliamentary constituency falls.
Kaneez Fatima asked her husband to do her share of work on Saturday so that she could be part of a gathering that not only looked back at the events that unfolded this time last year but also resolved to continue the fight just when storm clouds were gathering again.
Over 200 Calcuttans came together at Rajabazar on Saturday, the first anniversary of the citizenship act.
The meeting was organised by the Joint Forum Against NRC, a public platform associated with the anti-CAA and anti-NRC movements in Bengal. The forum said on Saturday that its supporters were ready to start protests the moment the BJP-led Centre started implementing the act.