CAA reality; Will implement once Covid-19 abates: Shah

Siliguri: The Union government will implement the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) soon after the Covid-19 crisis abate, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said on Thursday. Addressing a public meeting here in Bengal, he added that CAA is a reality, and Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is spreading rumours that the same will not be enforced, The Indian Express reported.

He asked Mamata whether she wanted "infiltration to continue". He wants to tell her that CAA was a reality and will remain the same, and Trinamool Congress could do nothing about it, Shah said.

However, Mamata reacted soon after that she was sure that BJP would not come to power in 2024. "This is their plan. Why are they not bringing the bill to Parliament?" she said. No citizens' rights should suffer, and unity is TMC's power, she said. Amit Shah came every time only to talk rubbish, she added, hitting the Home Minister back. Mamata Banerjee reacted instantly to Amit Shah's statement.

In late 2019 and early 2020, many parts of the country saw intense protests against CAA and NRC (National Register of Citizens), but the Covid-19 outbreak induced lockdowns. The discriminatory law takes religion as a factor for nationality, which offered non-Muslim immigrants from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan before 2015 citizenship. Though the Centre "assures" that no Indians will lose citizenship, lakhs of Muslims will lose it after the implementation of CAA and NRC.

Earlier, Amit Shah had alleged that it is difficult to stop infiltration and smuggling without the help of local administration. He asserted that there would be a situation when public pressure would force the local administration to support the Union government's efforts.