Thakurnagar: As a raucous debate rages on over the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a strong pitch for the contentious piece of legislation on Saturday, insisting it would bring “justice and respectability” to those who faced religious persecution.
Modi, who took his electoral battle to strident critic West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s turf, launched a blistering attack against the state’s ruling TMC, accusing it of orchestrating violence targeting BJP workers and claiming she had become jittery due to people’s love for his party. “India got Independence after splitting it into pieces. People thought they can make a living in the country of their choice, but there they faced atrocities and torture because of communal malice…Hindus, Sikhs, Jains and Parsis.
“It was because of this that we brought the Citizenship Bill. These people have no place to go other than India.
Should they not be given justice and respectability? I ask the TMC to support the Bill and facilitate its passage in Parliament.” Modi was addressing an event of the Scheduled Caste Matua community.
The Matuas originally hail from erstwhile East Pakistan and began migrating to West Bengal at the beginning of the 1950s, mostly due to religious persecution. With an estimated population of 30 lakh in West Bengal, they can influence results in at least five Lok Sabha seats in North and South 24 Parganas districts. However, many of them are claimed to have still not got Indian citizenship. Modi’s spirited defence of the Citizenship Bill in Matua heartland is apparently aimed at creating a new vote base for the BJP, just a couple of months or a little more ahead of the general elections. The prime minister’s address to a rally of ‘Matua Mahasangh’, which is aligned to the BJP, came days after 10 political parties of the northeast, most of which are members of the BJP-led North East Democratic Alliance (NEDA), besides the JD(U), the saffron party’s key ally in Bihar, decided to oppose the Bill, calling it detrimental to the interests of the locals.
Addressing the well-attended rally, where his speech was welcomed with loud cheers, Modi accused Banerjee and the TMC of unleashing violence against BJP workers. (PTI)
