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CAA Will Be Implemented Before Lok Sabha Polls: Thakur

Thakur said that implementing CAA will not be delayed further and a method to complete the process faster is being discussed…reports Asian Lite News

Union Minister Shantanu Thakur on Monday reiterated Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s statement that the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), which was passed by the Parliament in December 2019, will be implemented before the Lok Sabha elections.

On Shah’s statement, Shantanu Thakur said, “He explained to us that this is a very necessary constitutional event, and it is important to implement it. We have to give shelter to people coming from across the border and settle them too. No provision will take away the citizenship of current citizens.”

“The CAA will be implemented in such a way that there will be no role for state governments in it. They will not get any chance to create an environment of disturbance in the country,” Thakur told ANI on Monday.

Earlier in February this year, Amit Shah said that the CAA will be notified and implemented before the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.

The Union Minister said that there are no hurdles to implementing the CAA.

“CAA will be implemented before the Lok Sabha polls. There is no hurdle to implementing CAA. The rules for implementing the CAA will be issued soon, and the process to grant Indian nationality to the beneficiaries will start soon after,” he said.

Thakur said that implementing CAA will not be delayed further and a method to complete the process faster is being discussed.

“CAA is already in the Constitution, now it just has to be implemented. It has to be implemented in the fastest way possible, and the Home Ministry has also thought about its process. If it is going to be done through the state, then it would never happen. The method that will be adopted will be done within a day. I have also spoken to the Home Minister many times in this regard and he has also assured that CAA will be implemented before the 2024 elections,” he said.

“CAA is a very big and right decision taken by the Center and its positive result and impact will be reflected in the votes,” the Union Minister added.

Thakur, who hails from North 24 Parganas’ Bongaon in West Bengal, claimed that the Matua community in the region will vote in favour of the BJP.

“About 45 per cent of the Matua community lives in Bongaon constituency. If we talk about West Bengal, 1.5 crore voters are from the Matua community, and a total of 2 to 2.5 crore will get citizenship. These voters have full faith in the BJP because the Prime Minister has introduced these people to the world, by visiting Bangladesh and by coming to Bengal’s Thakur Nagar. I believe that this introduction is a big thing. It was done by the BJP only; the Matua community will vote in favour of the BJP,” he said.

Matuas are a Scheduled Caste group that trace their ancestry to East Bengal. Many of them entered West Bengal after partition and after the formation of Bangladesh.

Today, Matuas constitute the second-largest SC population in West Bengal. Mostly concentrated in North and South 24-Parganas, they also have a presence in other border districts such as Nadia, Howrah, Cooch Behar, and Malda.

Shantanu Thakur thanked PM Modi, Amit Shah, and senior leadership for the opportunity to contest the Lok Sabha polls.

“I will give my best. My constituency people are with me. The Prime Minister has asked to win 42 seats, so we are working hard in that regard. The Home Minister has also said that 35 seats is our target, we will take as many seats as our Prime Minister and Home Minister want. We are trying our best to win all the seats,” Thakur said.

The CAA, introduced by the Narendra Modi government, aims to confer Indian citizenship to persecuted non-Muslim migrants, including Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists, Parsis, and Christians, who migrated from Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Afghanistan and arrived in India before December 31, 2014.

Following the passage of the CAA by Parliament in December 2019 and its subsequent presidential assent, significant protests erupted in various parts of the country.

Shantanu Thakur, a prominent leader of the Matua community, entered politics just before the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. He secured victory in the Bongaon (SC) Lok Sabha seat, which has a significant Matua population, by an impressive margin of 1,11,594 votes, capturing around 48 per cent of the total votes cast. (ANI)

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Nitish calls for a united fight against BJP in LS polls

Nitish Kumar also hinted that Tejashwi Yadav is second in command after him and he would take decisions in his absence…reports Asian Lite News

After winning the trust vote in Bihar Assembly, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar is exhorting his Mahagathbandhan alliance partners to unitedly work towards wiping out BJP from the Centre.

A meeting of the Mahagathbandhan’s leaders at the chief minister’s residence on Wednesday, deliberated on strategies to wipe out the Narendra Modi-led central government in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav, JD(U) national president Rajiv Ranjan Singh alias Lalan Singh, Finance Minister Vijay Kumar Chaudhary, HAM chief Jitan Ram Manjhi, Congress leader Ajit Sharma and leaders of left parties besides the MLAs and MLCs of all the alliance partners were among those who attended the meet.

Nitish Kumar also hinted that Tejashwi Yadav is second in command after him and he would take decisions in his absence.

Participating in the discussion Tejashwi Yadav said that Mahagathbandhan aims at uprooting BJP from the centre for which the alliance partners of Mahagathbandhan have to stay united. This would not only give out a strong message to BJP but also encourage leaders of opposition parties in the rest of the country to stand against the communal forces.

Bihar slams ‘unholy’ JD-U, RJD alliance

In attempt to take on the Nitish Kumar-led ‘Mahagathbandhan’ (grand alliance) ahead of the 2024 general elections and the 2025 Bihar Assembly polls, the BJP has planned ‘pravas’ of senior leaders in each district of the state to connect with voters and its own cadres to expose the ‘unholy alliance’ of JD-U, RJD and others.

The BJP is also planning to be more aggressive against the ruling alliance.

As per the plan, members of Bihar BJP’s core group will hold meetings with influential and intellectual local people in each district and also interact with the cadres.

“The party’s state leadership will design a programme to establish connection with the rural population to boost the morale of the cadres in order to make the organisation future-ready to contest elections on its own,” a party insider said.

The party cadres will be the focus of all the BJP activities in Bihar as the state leadership has learnt that there is anger against the BJP leadership and ministers of the previous NDA government in state.

“Party cadre plays a key role in the electoral success of any political party and it has come to our notice that there is some anger among the workers at the ground level against BJP’s ministers in the previous government. Our leaders will reach out to the workers across the state to pacify their anger and motivate them to work for the party so that this unholy RJD, JD-U alliance is dislodged in the next elections,” the party insider said.

On the organisational front, the Bihar BJP has been asked to focus on ‘booth management’ by forming committees at each booth and appointing ‘Panna Pramukhs’ to start engagement with the voters and make the party visible across the state.

“During a recent meeting of the state BJP’s core group with the central leadership in Delhi, the state unit was directed to strengthen the party at the booth level and reach out to the villages. Special focus will given to the constituencies held by our former alliance partner JD-U, as those constituencies were neglected or ignored by us till now,” a senior BJP functionary said.

Another senior leader explained that the idea is to reach out to those communities that were so far been taken care of by JD-U.

“So many welfare and development schemes were announced by the Narendra Modi government at the Centre, but Nitish Kumar’s government in Bihar took credit for them as we were in an alliance. Our workers will tell these communities that it was the Modi government that took the decisions for their welfare,” he said.

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