On the day the third Trinamool Congress government completed a year in power in the State, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday exchanged barbs on a host of issues including the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 (CAA), law and order situation, and jurisdictional issues of the Border Security Force (BSF).
Addressing a public meeting in north Bengal, Mr. Shah alleged that the Trinamool Congress ( TMC) was spreading rumours about the CAA and that the legislation will be implemented in the country after the pandemic. “I want to make it clear that the Trinamool Congress is spreading rumours that the CAA will not be implemented. As soon as the COVID pandemic gets over, we will implement CAA… Mamata Didi, you want infiltration to continue and you do not want to give citizenship to refugees who have come to Bengal,” Mr. Shah said. The Home Minister who is on a two-day visit to the State tried to assure the gathering that “CAA was, is and will remain a reality”.
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee responded by saying that everybody is a citizen and every time the BJP raises the issue of CAA, the party is insulting the citizens who elected the Prime Minister and Chief Minister. “Those who speak the same lies every day, I consider that to be a kind of corruption,” the Chief Minister said. She also argued that the CAA has already lapsed since rules could not be framed.
