On Wednesday (May 11), Abhishek Banerjee, the general secretary of the Trinamool Congress, said that while Amit Shah did not discuss the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) or the National Register of Citizens (NRC) during his two-day visit to Assam, he announced the plan to implement the CAA in West Bengal.
The CAA is allegedly being ‘used’ by BJP leaders as a carrot on a stick.
“This is testament to the kind of politics that the BJP-led government is doing. In 2019, the Citizenship Amendment Bill was passed by the Lok Sabha and came into force within the next month. It usually takes 3-4 months for a new law to be formulated, but after 2 and half years, the center has tried six extensions, but is still unable to formulate the rules of the CAA,” said the TMC leader.
What did Abhishek Banerjee say about CAA?
According to him, his party will continue to oppose the CAA, calling it a “draconian bill”.
This draconian bill is opposed by us. Amit Shah said that the CAA would be implemented after the COVID-19 pandemic subsides in West Bengal, but he is silent in Assam. Now that the Union Home Minister has exposed his hypocrisy, how can those who voted for you (BJP) become illegal? In Assam, the NRC list was prepared after spending Rs 1600 crore, and around 19 lakh people were excluded from the list. “It is a botched up list,” he said.
Banerjee said the Home Ministry should secure their borders in response to the Union Home Minister’s remarks that West Bengal is not cooperating with the Centre.
It is the responsibility of the Border Security Force, which is under the Home Ministry. I’d be happy to see if they could provide any information about the Bengal government’s non-cooperation in this matter,” Banerjee said.