“Gyan of CAA is because of …”: JDU’s Afaque Ahmed Khan

Itanagar (Arunachal Pradesh) [India], December 1 (ANI): Janata Dal-United national general secretary Afaque Ahmed Khan slammed Union Home Minister Amit Shah over his statement on the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) in West Bengal and said that BJP leader is again raising the “gyan” of Citizenship Amendment Act as because he is aware and worried that the number of parliamentary seats for the party in West Bengal is decreasing.

He said, “Amit Shah is the Home Minister of the country and he has the insider information that the BJP’s Parliamentary seats are decreasing in West Bengal, therefore, he is now bringing up the gyan of CAA”.

Recently, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said that nobody can prevent the Central Government from implementing the Citizenship (Amendment) Act at a rally in Kolkata.

The BJP leader lashed out at the Mamata Banerjee-led West Bengal government accusing it of indulging in “appeasement politics” and urged people to vote to power the BJP government in the next assembly polls.

Shah in his address said that the CAA is the “country’s law” and the Narendra Modi-led Central government is going to implement it at any cost.

“The Citizenship (Amendment) Act is the country’s law, no one can stop it and we will implement it,” Amit Shah said.

Earlier in the day, on Thursday, in the presence of party’s Member of Parliament Anil Hegde from Bihar and Arunachal Pradesh chief Ruhi Tagung Rughu as well as the national general secretary inaugurated the office of the JD (U) Arunachal Pradesh unit at Itanagar.

In the previous legislative assembly elections, JD (U) had won seven assembly seats in Arunachal and JD-U is planning to increase this number this time.

The Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 aims to facilitate the grant of citizenship to migrants belonging to Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi or Christian communities from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan who entered India on or before December 31, 2014.

The Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 was notified on December 12 and came into force on January 10 in 2020.

The Trinamool Congress (TMC) questioned why the rules for the CAA had not been framed yet.

“They have a larger number of MPs, so they made the law. Why have the Rules under this law not been formed? The date for framing the Rules is being delayed even today. The attempt to frame the Rules has taken place nine times. They (central government) are saying that the Rules will be in place in 2024,” TMC leader and State Women and Child Development Minister, Shashi Panja, said while speaking to ANI.

Panja said that when the Citizenship Amendment Act was being passed in Parliament, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had asked for an all-party meeting on the legislation and not to rush it.

“When the law was being framed, Mamata Banerjee had said that there should be a discussion on CAA among all the parties and there should not be a hurry regarding CAA,” the Minister said.

Panja said that Amit Shah’s harping back at the Citizenship Amendment Act after a long pause is a “carrot and the stick” policy just to get votes before the Lok Sabha election.