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Mamata on CAA: It’s a show-off before polls, we’ll strongly protest if there is any discrimination

West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee also says Trinamool Congress won’t accept the National Register of Citizens and detention camps.

mamata CAAWest Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. (Express Photo by Partha Paul)

Minutes after the Centre announced a plan to notify the Citizenship Amendment Act rules (CAA), West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday said the Trinamool Congress will hit the streets if there is any discrimination in them. She called the move a political show-off just before the Lok Sabha polls.

“Such instigation is unwanted before the polls. We will not tolerate this and protest against this,” Banerjee said at a press conference at Nabanna. “We will protest this. I am telling you before the announcement that if something divisive is announced, we will protest that. Why is this being announced just before the vote? Why just before Ramadan starts? All people should keep their fast and Hindus should celebrate their festivals like Holi.”


“This is BJP’s work. As elections near, they start spreading information through news channels and then bring it to the people. Channels are running that the CAA will be implemented by tonight. This law was passed in 2020. After multiple extensions in four years, its implementation two to three days before the election announcement shows that it is being done for political reasons. We are waiting to see how the rules are framed. We have not received the notification. We do not know what the rules say. After seeing all the rules and reading the entire report, I will speak about them in detail tomorrow,” the chief minister said.

Banerjee further said, “If there is any discrimination, we don’t accept it. Be it religion, caste or linguistic. They won’t be able to give citizenship to anyone in two days. This is just a lollipop and show-off. If they call them citizens only after the CAA, were they not citizens before? Why were Aadhaar cards of Matuas being cancelled before? This means they are doing something new to replace old laws. The PM was elected on the basis of the votes of these people. How can they not be citizens? If they cancel the citizenship of anyone through the CAA and the NRC, we will not be quiet. We will show strong protest. We will not accept the NRC at any cost. We will not allow the use of the CAA to put people in detention camps.”

Atri Mitra is a Special Correspondent of The Indian Express with more than 20 years of experience in reporting from West Bengal, Bihar and the North-East. He has been covering administration and political news for more than ten years and has a keen interest in political development in West Bengal. Atri holds a Master degree in Economics from Rabindrabharati University and Bachelor's degree from Calcutta University. He is also an alumnus of St. Xavier's, Kolkata and Ramakrishna Mission Asrama, Narendrapur. He started his career with leading vernacular daily the Anandabazar Patrika, and worked there for more than fifteen years. He worked as Bihar correspondent for more than three years for Anandabazar Patrika. He covered the 2009 Lok Sabha election and 2010 assembly elections. He also worked with News18-Bangla and covered the Bihar Lok Sabha election in 2019. ... Read More

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  • CAA Mamata Banerjee West Bengal
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