A day after Union minister Shantanu Thakur’s remarks on the implementation of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) across the country, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee alleged that the Border Security Force has been providing separate identity cards to people in the border areas of the state.
Banerjee urged people in these areas to refrain from taking the card as they could be kicked out of the country under the National Register of Citizens (NRC).
“The BSF wants to give a separate identity card to the people in the border areas. Remember, do not take the separate identity card that the BSF wants to give by entering the border area; say that I have an Aadhaar card or that I have a ration card; say that I will not take your card. If you take that card, you will come under the NRC, and they will throw you out," the chief minister was quoted as saying by ANI.
The Trinamool Congress supremo also advised locals in Cooch Behar, particularly Rajbanshis, to ensure that their names are on the voters' list to "protect themselves" from the CAA. She further alleged that the Centre is bringing up the issue of CAA to do politics before the Lok Sabha polls.
The CAA, introduced by the Narendra Modi government, aims to confer Indian citizenship to persecuted non-Muslim migrants, including Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists, Parsis, and Christians, who migrated from Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Afghanistan and arrived in India before December 31, 2014.
Earlier, Thakur, Union Minister of State for Ports, Shipping and Waterways, said that the CAA would be implemented in every state of India within a week.
Thakur, the BJP MP from West Bengal’s Bongaon Lok Sabha seat, which has a substantial population of Matua community, also outlined plans for swift implementation of the contentious legislation within seven days.
"Ram Mandir has been inaugurated. Within the next one week, CAA will be implemented not only in West Bengal but also across the country,” he said, addressing a public rally at Kakdwip in South 24 Parganas district on Sunday evening.
