Eye on Bengal polls, Kailash Vijayvargiya says CAA likely to be implemented from January

Kailash Vijayvargiya said the BJP-led central government is keen on granting citizenship to the large refugee population in West Bengal. (File)

Senior BJP leader and West Bengal in-charge Kailash Vijayvargiya has said the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) was likely to be implemented from January next year as the saffron party-led Central government was keen on granting citizenship to the large refugee population in West Bengal. Bengal goes to polls in the next six months.

Talking to the reporters on the sidelines of the party’s “Aar Noy Anyay” (no more injustice) campaign in North 24 Parganas district on Saturday, Vijayvargiya said, “We are hopeful that the process of granting citizenship to refugees under the CAA will begin from January next year.”

The West Bengal BJP in-charge accused the Trinamool Congress government of not being sympathetic towards the refugees. “The Centre has passed the CAA with the honest intention of granting citizenship to persecuted refugees coming to our country from neighbouring nations,” PTI quoted Vijayvargiya as saying.

Reacting to Vijayvargiya’s remark, senior TMC leader and state minister Firhad Hakim alleged that the BJP was trying to fool the people of West Bengal. “What does the BJP mean by citizenship? If the Matuas are not citizens, how come they voted in assembly and parliamentary polls year after year? The BJP should stop fooling the people of West Bengal,” he said.

The Matuas, originally hailing from East Pakistan (present Bangladesh), started migrating to West Bengal in the 1950s, mostly due to religious persecution. The community, with an estimated population of 30 lakh in the state, has its impact on election results in at least four Lok Sabha seats and 30-40 assembly constituencies in Nadia, North and South 24 Parganas districts.

During his two-day visit to West Bengal last month, Union Home Minister Amit Shah reiterated his government’s commitment to implement CAA, saying “borders in the state are not secure, and that infiltration is going on”.

In October, BJP national president J P Nadda had attributed the delay in the implementation of CAA to the pandemic and said that the law would be implemented soon. “Due to Covid-19 pandemic, the implementation of CAA was delayed. However, as the overall situation is improving slowly, rules are now being framed. CAA will be implemented very soon and all of you will get the benefits of the law. We are committed to it,” Nadda had said while he was on a day-long visit to the state to take stock of his party’s organisational preparations and strength ahead of the 2021 assembly polls.

A section of state BJP leadership is apprehensive that the confusion and delay over CAA implementation might turn refugee voters, especially the Matua community, against BJP in the 2021 assembly elections due in April-May next year. The community had voted in favour of the BJP during the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, party sources said.

The CAA seeks to grant citizenship to Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Christian, Jain and Parsi refugees who have come to India from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan on or before December 31, 2014.

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