Lok Sabha polls 2024: TMC to single-handedly take on BJP in Bengal
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New Delhi: Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said on Thursday that in Bengal, Trinamool Congress (TMC) alone will fight BJP unlike in the rest of the country where INDIA bloc will stand together. She made the statement, clearing all speculations on any chances of seat sharing in the state, NDTV reported.
She also came hard on the Union government and the BJP over the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), saying that the BJP wanted to divide people for the party’s benefit. Addressing a rally in North 24 Parganas district, she accused the Centre of misusing central agencies.
On Wednesday, Union Home Minister Amit Shah proclaimed at Kolkata that CAA will be implemented and no one can stop it, claiming that it is the law of the land. He added that Mamata Banerjee is misleading people.
On the day, Mamata Banerjee said that earlier, the citizenship card was the responsibility of the District Magistrates, but the BJP-led Centre intervened and took that away for their gain. She alleged that the BJP wanted to give citizenship to some and not others. If one community is getting citizenship, others must also get it since discrimination is wrong, she said.
She said that the state government gave out pattas to all those who came from Bangladesh till 1971 and even after that under Chirosthaayi Thikana. Her government do not wish them to live like refugees, she said.
In a first, the Centre made religion a key factor for citizenship in its new CAA 2019. According to the legislation, persecuted minorities from neighbouring countries like Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan, who had entered India on or before December 31, 2014, will be granted citizenship. This is applicable to many religions but Muslims.