Barasat: Attacking the BJP-led government at the Centre over the implementation of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act or CAA, West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday said there is no clarity in the rules that were notified and she has doubts whether those have legal validity.
Addressing a programme in Habra in North 24 Parganas district, Banerjee urged the people to think several times before applying for citizenship under the law.
“This is a game of taking away the existing rights of citizens and is directly linked to the implementation of the NRC in the country,” she claimed.
The chief minister alleged that the CAA was unconstitutional and discriminatory.
On Monday, Mamata Banerjee said she would fiercely oppose the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) if she found it to be discriminatory against groups of people living in India and if it curtailed their existing citizenship rights in any manner.
Speaking at a hurriedly convened press conference from the state secretariat, Nabanna, barely minutes before the CAA rules were officially notified by the Centre, Banerjee said this was her “primary response” based on media reports that the announcement was likely to be made soon.
Banerjee stated she would offer her detailed opinion on CAA on Tuesday after thoroughly going through the notification and the finalised rules.
She asked, “Why do this only days before the Lok Sabha polls are scheduled to be announced? Why did the Centre have to wait for four years to notify the law after it was passed in Parliament?
The Centre should have published the notification “before leaking it to the press… Why wait for the sundown? This, after all, is not freedom at mignight”, Banerjee said.
Stating that people living in India already enjoyed guaranteed rights to education, property ownership and electing public representatives, Banerjee said she apprehended that the CAA could be used as a possible precursor to implementing NRC across the nation.
“We will oppose NRC implementation at all costs. I am only worried as to whether the new CAA rules would make the previous entitlements of our citizens invalid. Will the documents they hold lose value now?” the TMC chief said.
“I ask what was the tearing hurry to rethink citizenship when elections are knocking on the door,” the Trinamool Congress supremo added.
“The BJP is forcefully provoking the people before the polls,” she declared.
“We ask the people to not worry about their rights. Trinamool will be the first party to raise its voice and actively resist any attempt to curtail them,” she said.
Agencies

  BJP, CAA, Election

Agencies