"CAA Will be Implemented in Seven Days.." Union Minister's Big Claim in Bengal

New Delhi: Union Minister Shantanu Thakur has claimed that the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) will be implemented in the country in the next one week. "I am guaranteeing from the platform that CAA will be implemented not only in Bengal but across the country in the next seven days," thakur said while addressing a public meeting at Kakdwip in South 24 Parganas.

In December last year, Union Home Minister Amit Shah had referred to the Citizenship Amendment Act as the "law of the land" and said that no one can stop the implementation of the law. Shah had also accused West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee of misleading people about the CAA.

Shah had stated, "sometimes she (Mamata Banerjee) tries to mislead people about whether CAA will be implemented in the country or not. I want to make it clear that CAA is the law of the land and nothing can stop its implementation. This is the commitment of our party".  West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee replied by accusing Shah of trying to divide the people.

"Earlier, the citizenship card was the responsibility of the district collector, but now it has been snatched only for politics. They want to divide people. They want to give it (citizenship) to some and deny it to others. If one (community) gets citizenship, the other (community) should also get it. This discrimination is wrong."

The 2019 Law
According to the act, non-Muslims (Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists, Parsis, and Christians) who came to India from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan till December 31, 2014, will be given Indian citizenship. The CAA was passed by Parliament in December 2019. There were large-scale protests in parts of the country after the law was passed and approved by the President.