BJP to visit every house for citizenship to refugees: Ghosh

Kolkata, Jan 26 (SocialNews.XYZ) Throwing a challenge to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to stop the new citizenship law's (CAA) implementation, state BJP chief Dilip Ghosh said, here on Sunday, his party would visit every house and make arrangements online to ensure that Bangladeshi refugees filled the forms to get citizenship under the Act.

Accusing the Trinamool Congress of going "against the interests" of Bengal and India, Ghosh said he and his party would like to see to what extent the TMC could go in "turning against the nation and Bengalis".

Ghosh said if the TMC tried to resist the BJP, the state would turn against it. "We will see to what extent the TMC can turn anti-national and anti-Bengali," he said. The central government and the BJP "will definitely give citizenship to every refugee", he added.

"Mamata and his brothers are threatening us that they won't allow implementation of the CAA. They can't do anything. They don't have the calibre. We will go from house to house to ensure that people filled up forms. We will also ensure that forms are filled up online," he said.

The CAA, passed in Parliament last month, seeks to provide Indian nationality to Hindus, Christians, Sikhs, Parsis, Jains and Buddhists fleeing persecution in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh before December 31, 2014. As per the Act, they will not be treated as illegal immigrants and be given citizenship.

The legislation, which came into force on January 10, has led to countrywide protests, with students coming out on the streets in thousands in almost all the states. Civil society members, anti-BJP political parties and commoners have also joined the protests.

In Bengal, Banerjee-led TMC has been at the forefront of the protests.

Source: IANS