Two days after Prime minister Narendra Modi gave sermon to the youths and students at Belur Math underscoring the importance of the Citizenship Amendment Act, chief minister Mamata Banerjee took a dig at the Prime Minister, saying, “Only those owing allegiance to the BJP would be eligible for citizenship”. The chief minister was at a sit-in demonstration of the TMCP at Rani Rashmoni Road today when she lashed out at the Prime Minister who had justified the CAA as “an Act to give citizenship and not to rob the same.”
Marking her presence at the sit-in demonstration of the TMCP for the third consecutive day today at Rani Rashmoni Avenue, the venue for the ongoing protests against the CAA, chief minister Banerjee in a rebuttal to the Prime Minister’s contention said, “The amended citizenship Act ( CAA) would provide citizenship to those who sport amulet (maduli) of the BJP”. The Prime Minister while speaking against the ongoing protest on the CAA at Belur Math on Sunday, slammed the political parties who have been vocal against the CAA.
He said that those political parties were giving rise to the misgivings among the youths of the nation, thus misleading them by launching a misinformation campaign against the Act. “The Act is to give citizenship to the members of persecuted communities belonging to the three countries~ Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Pakistan. Is it not our duty to give citizenship to those being persecuted in Pakistan?”the Prime Minister stated. He also asked the math students present on the occasion to raise their hands in support of his claims on whether “he was right or wrong”.
The chief minister after meeting the Prime Minister at the Governor house on Saturday told news persons that since the CAA was instrumental in triggering violence across the country and wedging a divide among the people, the Centre should weigh its implementation. She also urged the Prime minister to do a rethink on the issue. “Bengal, under any circumstances, will not implement the CAA-NRC-NPR,” she said.
The chief minister had skipped the Prime Minister’s programme at the Netaji Indoor Stadium organised by the Kolkata Port Trust (KoPT) on Sunday following a vociferous protest by a section of the students organisation at Esplanade, who demonstrated whole night against the CAANRC- NPR, questioning the rationale behind her meeting with the Prime Minister. The students even raised “Go Back Mamata” slogans at the venue, where the chief minister had to stay put for several hours at the platform of her party’s students’ wing demonstration to avert any untoward incident.