CAA after Covid-19 vaccination or election vaccination? Mamata Banerjee's retort to Amit Shah

Shah on Thursday reiterated his commitment of implementing the contentious Citizenship (Amendment) Act but only after the Covid-19 vaccination process ends.

Reacting to it, Banerjee at the India Today Conclave said, "Which vaccination? After the election vaccination? No one knows whether people would get vaccinated or not....... He said Muslims have nothing to fear then why Muslims (Muslim refugees) have been left out of CAA? His statement is only contradicting the law."

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.

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

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

Addressing the Matua community in Bogaon on Dec 9, 2020, 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.