BJP ‘using’ CAA with eye on Gujarat polls: Mamata Banerjee

KRISHNANAGAR, (PTI): West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday alleged that the BJP was ”using” Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and National Register of Citizens (NRC) with an eye on the upcoming Gujarat assembly elections.

The Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo asserted that she will never allow the implementation of CAA in West Bengal.

Banerjee also accused the saffron camp of trying to fan separatism in West Bengal by raking up statehood demands, and iterated she will never allow the division of the state.

”Whenever any election approaches, the BJP speaks of implementing CAA and NRC. With upcoming Gujarat assembly polls later this year, and Lok Sabha elections just a year-and-half away, it has again started to flare up the CAA issue.

”Will the BJP decide who is a citizen and who is not? Matuas are very much citizens of this country,” Banerjee said, while addressing party workers in Krishnanagar.

The politically powerful Matua community has its origin in East Bengal or present-day Bangladesh. Many of them reside in the districts of North 24 Parganas and Nadia.

”The BJP is fanning separatism in West Bengal by instigating Rajbanshis and Gorkhas in northern parts of the state. We will never allow the division of West Bengal,” she said.

Iterating that the BJP won’t return to power after the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, Banerjee said that the political situation of the country was different in 2019 and it has changed since then.

”In 2019, the political situation of the country was different; BJP was in power in Bihar, Jharkhand and many other states. But now, its political presence has diminished across the country; it is no longer in power in many states.

”The BJP has already reached a saturation point in many states. That is why it is attacking opposition parties and arresting opposition leaders by maligning them,” she said. (PTI)