The Matua community of West Bengal is eagerly waiting for Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s message for the community with regards to the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) when he visits the Matua Headquarters in Thakurnagar on Thursday.
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Although the new Citizenship Act (CAA) has been enacted, its rules have not yet been enacted. Even in the budget session of Parliament, Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityananda Rai said that work was underway to formulate rules for the amended Citizenship Act.
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Therefore, the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha law-making committees have set extra time for the enactment of the rules till April 9 and July 9, respectively.
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With the promise of citizenship from the Center, a large section of the Matua community voted for the BJP in the Lok Sabha elections. After the BJP won the Lok Sabha vote for the second time, the amended Citizenship Bill (CAB) was also passed in Parliament. But some of them are still angry with the BJP for not getting citizenship.
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Representatives of the Matua community, including Shantanu, hoped that Shah would visit Thakurnagar on January 30 to give them a positive message about citizenship. But the cancellation of the Shah's meeting that day created new suspicions among the Matuas.
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It is also to be noted that all the seven Vidhan Sabha constituency as part of Bongaon Lok Sabha constituency are reserved for Scheduled Caste candidates due to the large number of Matua community people who reside in these constituencies.
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The ruling Trinamool Congress and the opposition Left and the Congress have been saying from the beginning that the Matuas are and will remain citizens of this country. In order to get votes, the BJP is giving them a new citizenship bait by showing them as non-citizens. On the other hand, Madhya Pradesh Home Minister Narottam Mishra of the BJP said at a meeting at Beliatore in Bankura on the same day, "Mamata Banerjee is pursuing a policy of misleading and intimidating the CAA."
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In addition to the Thakurnagar meeting, Amit Shah will inaugurate the BJP's Parivartan Yatra in Coochbehar on Thursday. JP Nadda, the party's all-India president, is returning to the state on Tuesday to inaugurate the BJP's two other Rath yatra from Jhargram and Tarapith. Last Saturday (February 6), he inaugurated the Paribartan yatra in Nabawdip. He also had meetings and road shows in Malda that day.
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