The Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019, offers sped up citizenship to non-Muslims who entered India from Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Bangladesh before 2015. The Ministry of Home Affairs’ (MHA) decision to issue citizenship certificates to members of the Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi, and Christian communities from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and Pakistan, living in two districts of Gujarat, has sparked a political controversy in West Bengal over the contingency plan’s implementation.
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders in West Bengal asserted the Center has begun enforcing CAA, 2019, despite the MHA’s October 31 notification clearly stating that district collectors of Anand and Mehsana in Gujarat will grant citizenship certificates to members of the aforementioned six communities under Section 16 of the Citizenship Act 1955.
The CAA, whose regulations have not yet been announced, is opposed by the Congress, the Left, the Trinamool Congress (TMC), and other opposition parties. On Monday, these parties asserted that the BJP-led federal government is attempting to sway Gujarat voters ahead of the state’s upcoming assembly elections.Leaders of the West Bengal BJP asserted that the CAA’s guidelines had already been established.
According report of the Hindustan Times “The Centre has started the process of enforcing CAA. Gujarat is the first state. It will be implemented in West Bengal as well. It is an old demand of our Matua community. The Centre earlier said that rules for CAA were being framed,”.
Meanwhile, “The process has started with Gujarat. It will be done in other BJP-ruled states as well, such as Uttar Pradesh. Implementing CAA in Bengal may lead to problems because of India’s federal structure. Though I am not aware of the MHA’s plans, I am sure it will solve it through talks,” Thakur said.
During the 1947 Indian partition and the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War, a sizable Dalit Namasudra sect known as the Matuas fled religious persecution in East Pakistan (now Bangladesh).
The CAA 2019 enables non-Muslims who entered India from Afghanistan, Pakistan, or Bangladesh before 2015 to go through an expedited citizenship process. The TMC asserts the Act is unlawful because it associates citizenship with religion in a nation that is secular.
The matter started a debate on Monday since panchayat elections are expected to take place in WB in March or April of next year. Aunt of Shantanu Thakur and former Bongaon TMC Lok Sabha member Mamata Bala Thakur claimed that the Matuas’ demands did not include CAA.
“We are already citizens of India. How can someone offer citizenship to people who have proof of citizenship, have jobs and cast their votes? The action taken in Gujarat is part of a political strategy before the state polls,” she said.
“Why doesn’t the Centre offer citizenship to refugees from Sri Lanka and Myanmar? Don’t they have rights? The BJP is focusing only on Islamic nations to create hatred in our society,” said Chowdhury.