Union Minister and Matua leader Shantanu Thakur believes that the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) will safeguard those belonging to the community by granting them "legal citizenship", thus preventing them from being labelled as foreigners in the event of "a potential National Register of Citizens (NRC) exercise in the next 100 years".
In an interview with PTI, Mr. Thakur sought to alleviate confusion among the Matuas regarding the submission of applications for citizenship under the CAA and asserted that "no documents proving previous residential addresses in Bangladesh are mandatory, with certificates from community organisations being sufficient".
Mr. Thakur, who is seeking re-nomination on a BJP ticket from the Matua-majority Bongaon Lok Sabha seat in West Bengal's North 24 Parganas district, emphasised that without the implementation of the CAA, none of the Opposition leaders, including Mamata Banerjee, would be capable of safeguarding the Matuas in the event of an NRC exercise in a century from now.
