New Delhi: Bharatiya Janata Party national president J.P. Nadda on Monday said the execution of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) has been delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic and asserted that the law would be implemented soon.
Nadda, who was speaking at a party meeting in north Bengal’s Siliguri, accused the Mamata Banerjee government in West Bengal of indulging in “divide and rule politics” in the state to serve the political interests of her party, the Trinamool Congress, unlike the BJP which “works for the development of all”.
“As far as the CAA is concerned, it has already been passed in parliament. All of you will get the benefits of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act. We are committed to it,” Nadda said.
“Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, its implementation got delayed. But as the situation is slowly improving, the work has started. The rules are now being framed and CAA will be implemented very soon. Under this Act all the eligible people will definitely get Indian citizenship,” Nadda said.
Some groups in the region had reportedly requested Nadda to ensure the early implementation of the CAA. In recent times, the saffron party had made inroads in the region, once considered a TMC bastion, by bagging seven of the eight Lok Sabha seats in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.
Assembly polls are due in the state in April-May next year, and the fight for power promises to be a tough one as Banerjee will seek to return as chief minister for the third straight time. North Bengal, which comprises eight districts, accounts for 54 of the 294 assembly seats.
Also read: Sanitising the Polity: Making the Protester Invisible
Indicating that the CAA would be a major poll plank of the BJP in the assembly polls, Nadda said the party is committed to its implementation.
The citizenship law had become a flashpoint in West Bengal since before its enactment in parliament in 2019 with the ruling TMC opposing the contentious legislation tooth and nail and the BJP pressing for its implementation.
Continuing his attack on the TMC, which has often been a harsh critic of the saffron party, the BJP president accused it of pursuing “appeasement” policies and indulging in vote bank politics. “Mamata Banerjee government has deeply hurt and humiliated the Hindu community in the state. As elections are approaching, the TMC sensing a backlash has changed its tune and is now trying to lure people with all sorts of things,” he said.
Also read: British MPs, Prominent Figures Condemn Modi Regime’s ‘Dictatorial Agenda’
The Ministry of Home Affairs was supposed to put together rules for the implementation of the contentious CAA by June 18, but failed to do so.
The law had triggered widespread protests across the country, as people protested against religion being made the basis for citizenship for the first time in independent India and saw the law as discriminatory against Muslims. Internationally too, the CAA had made the Narendra Modi regime unpopular, with human rights experts from the United Nations and several Western countries speaking out against it.
(With PTI inputs)