BARASAT: Senior BJP Leader Kailash Vijayvargiya on Saturday he said the Citizenship (Amendment) Act is likely to be implemented from January next year as the Center and the Saffron Party are eager to grant citizenship to the large refugee population in west bengal.
The BJP National Secretary General accused the TMC government of not sympathizing with the refugee cause.
“We are hopeful that the process of granting citizenship to refugees under the CAA it will start from January next year, “he told reporters on the sidelines of the ‘Aar Noy Anyay’ (no more injustices) party campaign in the 24th district of northern Parganas.
“The Center has passed the CAA with the honest intention of granting citizenship to persecuted refugees who come to our country from neighboring nations,” he added.
In reaction to Vijayvargiya’s comment, senior TMC leader and state minister Firhad Hakim said that the BJP is trying to mislead the people of West Bengal.
“What does the BJP mean by citizenship? If the matuas are not citizens, how come they voted in the assembly and in the parliamentary elections year after year? The BJP should stop misleading the people of West Bengal,” he said.
The Matuas, originally from East Pakistan (present-day Bangladesh), began migrating to West Bengal in the 1950s, mainly due to religious persecution.
The community, with an estimated population of 30 lakh in the state, influences at least four Lok Sabha seats and 30-40 assembly districts in Nadia, 24 Parganas northern and southern districts.
A section of the BJP state leadership fears that the delay and confusion over the implementation of the CAA could turn refugee voters, especially the Matua community, against the BJP in the 2021 assembly elections to be held in April. -May of next year.
The community had uncontestedly voted in favor 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 Parsis refugees who arrived in India from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan on or before December 31, 2014.
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