‘BJP confusing Matua voters though CAA notification’: WB Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee

Kolkata: The BJP and the Central government are trying to confuse the Matua population concentrated mainly in West Bengal by notifying the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee claimed on Saturday.

“The Centre and Prime Minister Narendra Modi are confusing our Matua brothers. The implementation of CAA and applying for it does not mean automatic granting of citizenship. There are many uncertainties even after that,” the Chief Minister said during an election meeting at Chakdaha in Nadia district, which has a sizable Matua population.

To recall, the Centre on March 11 notified the Citizenship (Amendment) Rules 2024, thus paving the way for enforcing the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), which seeks to grant Indian citizenship to persecuted Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists, Parsis and Christians who came to India from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan before December 31, 2014.

The news triggered celebrations among the members of the Matua community, a backward-class Hindu group which came to West Bengal as refugees from neighbouring Bangladesh, and form a sizable population in the state.

“Five years back, the BJP managed to secure the Matua votes in the name of CAA. The party had then promised to grant citizenships through CAA. But those were all lies. Now they are saying you must apply through the CAA form. Even after that, there is no guarantee of getting citizenship. In case you are not granted citizenship, you will be sent to the detention camps,” she said.

“They tried to do the same thing in Assam. I will not allow the implementation of CAA in West Bengal as long as I am alive,” the Chief Minister said.  (IANS)

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