Didi misleading all on CAA: Shah

Kolkata/Gaya: After Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union home minister Amit Shah also went all out against West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday to counter her fierce opposition to the Citizenship (Amendment) Act 2019 (CAA), which seems to have put the BJP and its key Lok Sabha election agenda on the backfoot in the state. Later in the day, at another rally in Gaya, Bihar, he accused both the Congress and the RJD of indulging in the politics of appeasement.

Launching a blistering attack from a party campaign rally at Balurghat in South Dinajpur on the Trinamul Congress supremo over her anti-CAA stand, Mr Shah accused Ms Banerjee of misleading the communities of Hindu migrants about the law to secure her “vote bank of infiltrators” in the polls.

The BJP heavyweight then passionately urged the refugees to apply under the CAA, ignoring Ms Banerjee's warnings. He also slammed the Bengal chief minister over the Sandeshkhali violence and an FIR against the NIA, but reduced his target of the BJP winning 35-plus seats out of 42 in Bengal to 30 seats.

In a speech of around 20 minutes, Mr Shah said, “I have come here to make an appeal to you with folded hands. We have implemented the CAA. But Mamata Didi is misleading the people of Bengal. She is telling them that they will lose their citizenship if they apply for it. What does she know about citizenship?”

Mr Shah claimed: “I ask all the refugees who came here to apply for the CAA without any fear. None of them will face any cases or proceedings. This is the law of the Modi government. No one can change it. Mamata Didi, you can oppose it as much as you want. We will give citizenship to all the Hindu, Buddhist and Sikh refugees who came here. This is our promise.”

The Union home minister asked the TMC chief, “What is your problem if the Hindu, Buddhist and Sikh refugees get citizenship here? How can you give a red carpet welcome to infiltrators and Rohingyas here while misleading the refugees? Your plan will not succeed. Modiji has notified the CAA rules. All the refugees can apply without fear. You have as much right in this country as I do.”

On the infiltration issue, Mr Shah pointed out, “Can Bengal be strong while infiltration is underway in Balurghat? Will Mamata Didi stop the infiltration? She won't because infiltrators are her votebank. Only Narendra Modi and a BJP government can stop infiltration. Assam had a similar problem. But the people of that state took a decision and brought the BJP into power. Now no infiltration happens there.”

On the BJP’s goal, Mr Shah told the crowd, “I am now telling you about a ‘Modi Guarantee’. Help us cross 30 seats and form a BJP government. No bird can set its foot here.” He was heard repeating his revised target when he said, “30 seats for the BJP will result in the ouster of the Ms Banerjee government.”

Castigating Ms Banerjee over the FIR against the NIA, the Union home minister remarked, “Shame on you, Didi! You are trying to save those who are involved in the bomb blast in Bhupatinagar by registering a case against the NIA!”

On the Sandeshkhali violence, Mr Sha told her, “You, despite being a woman CM, are playing politics over such a shameful incident! The TMC goons unleashed atrocities on women for years under your nose. When the ED went there, stones were pelted. You are protecting the accused for your appeasement politics. Should someone like her be voted for? Press the button so hard that the current is felt in Kolkata.

At another election rally held in Guraru block of Gaya district in Bihar, Mr Shah accused the Congress party of creating a north-south divide to break the country and also accused the Congress and the RJD of indulging in appeasement politics.

“The Congress party is creating a north-south divide to break the nation, which the NDA-led Central government and people of the country will not allow. Their leader, Rahul Gandhi, is maintaining a stoic silence on this,” the Unin home minister said.

The people of this country have now made up their minds to give a befitting reply to such divisive forces in the Lok Sabha polls and will ensure 400-plus seats for the NDA, he said.

“They (the Congress and the RJD) are indulging in politics of appeasement and that is the reason they are protesting the removal of Article 370 from Jammu and Kashmir," Mr Shah said.

He also claimed that the Congress never wanted Ram Mandir in Ayodhya and never thought of conferring Bharat Ratna on former Bihar chief minister Karpoori Thakur.