CAA a dangerous conspiracy, why it is not made unconditional: Mamata Banerjee

Mamata Banerjee. File Pic

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said that the Citizenship Amendment Act is a "dangerous conspiracy" and questioned why the procedure of granting citizenship is not made unconditional.

"We don't agree with CAA. If they make it unconditional I do not have a problem with that. Earlier state governments used to give citizenship, DMs used to give citizenship when needed. If anyone stays in America for 10 years they will get a green card. Why are you making such a law? So this is a dangerous conspiracy," the Chief Minister said while campaigning at Bangaon in West Bengal's North 24 Parganas district on Monday.

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Questioning the exclusion of Bengali Hindus from the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam, the Chief Minister said, "We will not allow them to implement NRC. In Assam, 19 lakh Hindu Bengalis were excluded. You have excluded Muslims. You keep abusing them. If you keep speaking in favour of Hindus all the time, why did you exclude Hindu Bengalis?"

The Chief Minister further questioned why the Matuas in her state are being allegedly asked to bring their parents' certificates from Bangladesh to give them citizenship.

"If you love the Matuas so much, then why are you not making it unconditional? Why are you saying that they have empowered them? Why are you asking them to bring certificates of their mother and father from Bangladesh?" Banerjee said.

The Trinamool Congress supremo further said that she will not be able to provide certificates of her parents because she does not even know their date of birth.

"If anyone asks me to bring certificates of my mother and father, I don't even know their birthdays, how can I bring their certificates? Isn't it true? I know their death anniversary but do not know their date of birth," Banerjee said.

The Chief Minister said that no one submitted their documents for the National Register of Citizens because they know that once they do so they will allegedly be deemed "foreigners".

"If anyone asks you to bring 50-year-old certificate, will you be able to furnish it? You can do one thing. Ask the BJP candidate from here to apply. Why are you not applying yourself? This is because you will become a foreigner...They will not do. No one submitted the documents. This is because those who know the law have seen how dangerous they are. So we are not allowing NRC," she said.

Banerjee also warned that when the Uniform Civil Code is implemented there will be no existence of minorities, OBCs, Scheduled Tribes, adivasis or even Hindus.

"Another such conspiracy is the Uniform Civil Code. There will be no minorities, no OBCs, STs, adivasis, or Hindus. There will be one nation, one political party leader. There will be some goons, mafia and looters of the BJP. There will be no elections in India if Modi comes to power. India's democracy will be wiped off, they will eat and digest the Constitution," the Chief Minister said.

"They have changed the history, geography, education, the character of our nation. So remember, no more Modi," she added.

Batting for the opposition INDIA bloc in the Centre, the Chief Minister said, "Didi will bring the INDIA coalition to power in Delhi. We will be helping from here. INDIA bloc will win."

The TMC chief said that as per her party's calculations the Bharatiya Janata Party will not win more than 190-195 seats in the Lok Sabha elections and the INDIA bloc will be winning around 315 seats.

"According to our calculations, they will have not more than 190-195 seats, the INDIA bloc will win 315 seats barring three-four parties. So Modi is not coming," Banerjee said.

Though still a part of the Opposition bloc--INDIA, the TMC chose to go it alone in Bengal and announced candidates for all 42 Lok Sabha seats in the state.

The Congress and the Left Front have a seat-sharing arrangement in the state under which the Left parties contest 30 seats and the Congress contests the remaining 12 seats.

In the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, the TMC took the lion's share of the electoral spoils in the state, at 34, while the BJP had to be content with just 2 seats. The CPI(M) and the Congress won 2 and 4 seats, respectively.

However, in a poll stunner that few saw coming, the BJP turned the tables on the ruling TMC in the 2019 polls, winning 18 seats. The ruling party in the state saw its tally reduced to 22. The Congress fared a lowly third in the tally with just 2 seats while the Left Front was down to just a lone seat.

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