Kolkata: Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari on Saturday said the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019, is not about taking away citizenship but granting it.
He made the remarks after distributing Indian citizenship certificates to 300 members of the Matua community from North 24 Parganas district at an event in New Town, Kolkata.
The Chief Minister announced that all pending applications for citizenship under the CAA in West Bengal would be disposed of within the next six months.
Speaking at the programme, Adhikari said, “The CAA is meant to grant citizenship, not to take away anyone’s citizenship. Eligible people must come forward and apply under the Act. More certificates will be issued in the coming months.”
The CAA seeks to grant Indian citizenship to refugees from six communities — Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians — who sought shelter in India before December 31, 2014, due to religious persecution in Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan.
Adhikari said 23,956 citizenship certificates had been issued so far, including 5,966 over the past 11 weeks since the new Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government was formed in the state.
According to him, 2,30,605 applications have been received across the state. Nadia district recorded the highest number of beneficiaries with 10,191 certificates, followed by North 24 Parganas with 8,930.
“Following discussions with the Union Home Secretary, the process of delegating legal and administrative powers to district magistrates for speedy disposal of CAA applications is expected to begin within a month,” he said.
He criticised the previous Trinamool Congress government for misleading people on the CAA issue.
“The previous government projected the CAA as the NRC and misled the people, particularly the Muslim community. False propaganda was spread claiming that applying under the CAA would result in loss of jobs, ration benefits or the Lakshmir Bhandar scheme. Today, the truth has come out, and even opposition MLAs have attended this programme voluntarily,” Adhikari said.
(IANS)
