- Tuesday, February 25, 2025
A minister of the Narendra Modi government said the Act, which aims at granting Indian citizenship to persecuted non-Muslim migrants from neighbouring countries, will be implemented in a week.
By: Shubham Ghosh
IN a statement that could trigger a fresh row in India’s political circles, a federal minister on Monday (29) said the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) would be implemented throughout the nation in a week’s time.
Speaking to a news channel in an interview, Shantanu Thakur, a junior ports, shipping and waterways minister, said a swift implementation of the contentious legislation would be a reality in seven days. The 41-year-old minister is a parliamentarian from the eastern state of West Bengal, the chief minister of which has strongly opposed the idea of implementation of the CAA in her state.
The CAA, which is enacted by prime minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party-led government in 2019, aims at granting Indian citizenship to persecuted non-Muslim migrants, including Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists, Parsis and Christians, from neighbouring countries such as Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Afghanistan who entered India before December 31, 2014.
Read: India’s top court decides to examine constitutional validity of Citizenship Amendment Act
“The CAA will be implemented very soon. It will be implemented within seven days. This is my guarantee,” said Thakur, who is a leader of Bengal’s influential Matua community.
Thakur has been claiming that the CAA would be implemented in the country ahead of the national elections this year.
The Matuas, who constitute a large chunk of Bengal’s Scheduled Caste population, had been migrating to the state since the 1950s, primarily due to religious persecution in erstwhile East Pakistan which later became Bangladesh.
Since the 90s, political parties in Bengal have actively sought to secure the support of the Matuas, who, due to their significant population and tendency to vote together, are considered a valuable voting bloc akin to the minorities.
The Matua community is believed to benefit the most from the implementation of the CAA.
Thakur’s assertion on the CAA’s implementation comes amidst reports this month, suggesting that the rules for the legislation would be notified “much before” the announcement of the general elections.
His remarks elicited strong reactions from the state’s ruling Trinamool Congress, which has vehemently opposed the CAA, labelling it “divisive”.
“Our party supremo and chief minister Mamata Banerjee have clearly said that CAA won’t be implemented in West Bengal. The BJP leaders are attempting political gimmickry by making such false promises before the Lok Sabha elections,” party spokesperson Kunal Ghosh said.
Last month, Indian home minister Amit Shah reiterated that the implementation of CAA is inevitable as it is the law of the land.
During a meeting of the BJP in Kolkata, Bengal’s capital, he had accused Banerjee of misleading people on the CAA issue. Banerjee has alleged that the BJP is “exploiting” the citizenship issue for political gain.
The promise of implementing the controversial CAA served as a major electoral platform for the BJP in national and state polls in Bengal in the past.
Party leaders believe that it played a pivotal role in the BJP’s rise in the state, where it is yet to capture power.
(With PTI inputs)
