Eight DMs empowered to fast-track CAA certificates: Amit Shah in West Bengal

KOLKATA: Union home minister Amit Shah said in Siliguri on Friday that the Centre has given powers to eight West Bengal District Magistrates for the quick issuance of CAA certificates to Hindu refugees. “When I brought the CAA law, Mamata Banerjee mocked me and said she will not accept it. Mamata Didi, your government is gone. Now, it is the government of the BJP. I promise every Hindu, Sikh, Jain, and other refugee brothers who came from Bangladesh and were subject to religious persecution that we will grant citizenship,” Shah said. “All the refugees will get Indian citizenship in an expedited manner,” Shah said. “But for infiltrators, we will follow the ‘detect, delete, and deport’ policy. We will drive out every single infiltrator from West Bengal.”

Claiming that “rule of law” prevails in Bengal now with the new BJP government in power, Shah said the previous government did not implement BNS in Bengal so that they could promote cut money, syndicate raj and corruption. He praised CM Suvendu Adhikari who has fulfilled 43% of the poll promises made in the BJP’s manifesto ‘Sankalp Patra’ in just 100 days.

Inaugurating an exhibition on the country’s three new criminal laws at Kawakhali Ground in Siliguri, Shah said now the BNS, BNSS and BSA are being implemented by the new government.

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Slamming the previous CM, who never participated in Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) programmes, Shah said, “Suvenduji had said that for the first time a Chief Minister of Bengal got the opportunity to come to the SSB programme. I want to make a correction. We used to invite former Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee but she does not want to come to the SSB program. We invited you and you have come.”

“Whether it is SSB or BSF, it is not any political party or any one government’s agency. It is a force that protects the borders of the country day and night through hard work, irrespective of party policy or government. All political parties, whether in Bengal or at the Centre, should keep a warm relationship with the jawans,” he added.
VANDE MATARAMRegarding the singing of the national song ‘Vande Mataram’, Shah said: “It was sung in Parliament. Everyone used to stand up. But many people like me were saddened that even after Independence and the partition, the entire Vande Mataram was not sung-…For the first time, after completing 150 years since the composition of ‘Vande Mataram’, the entire song was heard by the people of the country from the Red Fort”.

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Rishi Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay’s composition had inspired the freedom movement, and gave a vision of independent India, Shah said. “The Union Ministry of Home Affairs recently got a Bill passed by Parliament and decided to make the complete “Vande Mataram” a part of govt programmes, which is a historic step. This will ensure that future generations receive the message of Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay”.