Mamata Banerjee terms CAA, ‘trap’, says, ‘If you apply, you will become foreigner for 5 years’

Launching her Lok Sabha election campaign from West Bengal's Krishnanagar constituency, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee warned people that applying under the Citizenship (Amendment) Act or CAA would designate them as foreigners and advised against it.

She further challenged the saffron party to win 200 constituencies, while reiterating that she will not allow the implementation of CAA in the state.

As reported by PTI, Banerjee cited the BJP as a “jumla party”, the TMC supremo accused the BJP of “peddling lies” regarding the CAA, stating that “Modi's guarantee on CAA is a zero guarantee.”

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“The CAA is a trap to turn legal citizens into foreigners. Once you implement CAA, the National Register of Citizens (NRC) will follow. We would allow neither CAA nor NRC in West Bengal. Don't fall for the false assurance of the central government. If you apply, you will be designated as a foreigner for five years,” Banerjee said.

She expressed doubt about having a member from the census department on the CAA committee, “Why has such a member been included if they have no plan for NRC in the future? The CAA is the head and the NRC is the tail.”

“Why are BJP leaders not applying for citizenship under the CAA? It is because if they apply, they will have to declare themselves as foreigners and therefore cannot contest the election anymore,” she claimed.

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Banerjee brought attention to a case where a young person, concerned about the CAA, tragically took their own life in the Sonarpur region of the South 24 Parganas district.

Reaching out to the Matuas, who are expected to benefit most from the implementation of the CAA, the TMC supremo urged the community to have faith in her, stating she would never allow “anyone to snatch your citizenship.”

“Matuas, please have faith in me. I will not allow anyone to snatch your citizenship. Do you want that (citizenship to be snatched) or want to live peacefully? Through CAA, they will snatch everything from you and keep you in a detention camp,” she said, while addressing her first rally in the election season.

The Matuas, originally hailing from East Pakistan, constitute a vulnerable Hindu community that migrated to India during the partition and the formation of Bangladesh due to religious persecution. Their substantial population and cohesive voting tendencies have rendered them a coveted voting group for political parties in West Bengal.

Under the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), whose regulations were announced on March 13, the government will commence granting Indian citizenship to persecuted non-Muslim migrants—comprising Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists, Parsis, and Christians—from Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan, provided they arrived in India before December 31, 2014.

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Mamata Banerjee further accused the BJP-led Union government of employing central agencies against her party's leaders, Banerjee stated, “Every day, CBI, ED, and Income Tax teams are being dispatched to the homes of our leaders.”

She asked, "If the BJP is confident of winning 400 seats, why are they sending CBI and ED teams to our leaders' houses? Why are officers from Bengal being sent to other states?"

Banerjee vehemently condemned the central government for the arrest of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. She remarked, “They arrested Arvind Kejriwal but they couldn't stop him from working. He is still working from jail.”

Using a metaphor, she said, “In the BJP washing machine, one Patel (referring to NCP leader Praful Patel) went inside and is now free of corruption. This is the BJP's washing machine.”