Duttapulia, April 21: Trinamul’s all India general secretary Abhishek Banerjee alleged that the BJP led centre will use the Citizenship rules to understand how many Bangladeshi entered India. He also said that if the CAA is aimed to provide citizenship, not to rob it rather, the centre should issue the necessary certificate to the applicants within seven days of receiving the appeal, along with a proper notification that it will not implement National Register of Citizenship (NRC) and remove these people from the country
But he alleged that the BJP led government would never do so and continue to cheat people while further claiming the saffron party would use the CAA to “understand” how many people entered India from Bangladesh and Pakistan and then use NRC to expel them from the country.
Speaking at a public meeting in Duttapulia, a strong Matua domain near Ranaghat in Nadia on Sunday afternoon, he alleged that the centre’s announcement of its implementation after framing the rules just before election “political motive”.
“They took five years to frame the CAA rules misleading the people, and now the party is still cheating them with the online application. They have prepared a 40-page form that requires a self-declaration that one is a Bangladeshi or Pakistani or Afghanistan. Following once a person submit his application, his bank account will be closed, and benefits of welfare schemes will be stopped. It is a gameplan to impose NRC on them after which they will be sent to detention camps, Abhishek told in the meeting that was organised by the party to garner support for its Ranaghat candidate Mukutmani Adhikari
Claiming that to ensure citizenship, CAA is not at all required, Trinamul general secretary said, “If you have voted to elect the Prime Minister and Chief Minister, MPs and MLAs you are all citizens. As long as Mamata Banerjee is alive, the people of Bengal will not have to beg in front of anyone. BJP is asking the people to apply for CAA. But how many of the BJP leaders have appealed for citizenship?” the Diamond Harbour MP said.
In 2019 Trinamul lost the Ranaghat seat to BJP, a strong Matua domain, largely due to its citizenship promise that made the community leaned towards the saffron party. Matuas formed around 40% of the electorate in its seven assembly segments in all of which Trinamul lost miserably apparently due to shifting of support if the Matuas towards BJP that played the decisive role. The result in the 2021 assembly election was also an encore of the 2019 Lok Sabha poll as the citizenship promise co time to pay dividend to BJP.
Terming the citizenship assurance of BJP and the centre, a fake promise Abhishek said that he would support the amended Citizenship act if the centre notifies that the there will be no NRC.
Claiming that CAA is an integral part of NRC, the Diamond Harbour MP said, “At least names of 19 lakhs people were deleted through NRC exercise in Adam of which around 12 lakhs are Hindu Bengali. The person who led this exercise Himanta Biswa Sarma was made the chief minister of the Assam.
Assuring that the Trinamul will not allow to implement NRC, Abhishek told people not to worry. “As long as Trinamul Congress is there in Bengal, be assured nobody will be able to cause any harm to you…You have equal right with any other citizens if the country”, he said.
Countering Abhishek’s allegation BJP candidate and sitting MP Jagannath Sarkar said, “People would give a fitting reply to Trinamul and Abhishek for his abusive language. Matuas know well that citizenship promise was never fake, and it will be proved again in the coming days”.