CAA will be implemented after Covid-19 vaccination process gets over: Amit Shah

At a rally in Thakurnagar, which constitutes the crucial Matua community, Shah said, "I once again tell all people that the CAA will be implemented across the country after the Covid-19 vaccination process ends."

"Mamata Didi (Mamata Banerjee) is opposing the CAA but how can she oppose it when the law was made in Parliament? Moreover, she (Mamata Banerjee) won't be able to create obstacles to the CAA implementation as she won't remain the Chief Minister after April," the tall Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader added.

The CAA, which aims to grant citizenship to Hindu, Sikh, Christian, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi but not Muslim refugees who came to India from neighbouring countries Pakistan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan before 2015, was a flashpoint between the country's ruling BJP and most of the opposition parties in late 2019 and early 2020.

"No Muslims will have to fear over CAA. This law is not snatching any one's citizenship but granting," the Home Minister said. 

Also Read: Matua community already Indian citizens, need no CAA certificate: Mamata Banerjee

The law, the implementation of which is likely to take place after the state elections, was enacted in Jan 2020.

Addressing the Matua community in Bogaon on Dec 9, 2020, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said the Matua community, a sect of folk Hinduism which is key in the state's contemporary politics, needs no certificate to prove their citizenship, in an attack on the BJP.

"We have already accepted the Matua people as our citizens. The Matua community needs no certificate. They are insulted in the name of CAA," said Banerjee, who heads the ruling Trinamool Congress.

"Me as the CM saying they need no certificate," she asserted.

Shah on Thursday also said the Thakurnagar Railway Station will be renamed Sridham Thakurnagar Railway Station, in a bid to reach out to the local community.

"We want to rename Thakurnagar Railway Station as Sridham Thakurnagar Railway Station. But the Mamata govt is not sending us permission for the same! The BJP CM, after we form the govt, will send approval for the same in the first week of appointment," the former BJP national president said.