The Citizenship Amendment Act, which the parliament passed in December 2019, has been waiting for the government to notify it of its implementation for four years as a result of ferocious protests in a number of Indian states, particularly West Bengal, Assam, and Uttar Pradesh. Therefore, it is curious as to why, on the eve of elections, the central government announced its nationwide implementation yesterday.
My guess is that the government thought it would have a smooth sailing with the inauguration of the Ram Mandir, which, though had a salutary effect in the Hindi-cow belt, did not much cut much ice in the southern states. There had to be something more important to influence the Hindu voters, as the minorities were the forte of the Congress and many regional parties like the Trinamool, DMK, AIMIM, the Left, etc.
Thus, the CAA came in handy to polarise the Hindu voters, which I do not think is a crime, as winning is the ultimate goal of every battle and war, elections included. If the brazen exploitation of the minorities as a vote bank was not inappropriate, the rolling out of CAA now or at any time must as much be tolerated.
The CAA will have an impact favouring the BJP party in as many as 8 Lok Sabha seats, where the Hindu migrant communities from Bangladesh like Matuas and Rajbanshi dominate, which could be as much as 15% of the state’s population. Despite the massive protests over the Sandeshkali incidents and the arrest of many Trinamool leaders for their involvement in various scams, the BJP leadership did not miss the charisma of Bengal’s CM, Mamata Banerjee, which was evidenced in the huge Brigade rally on March 10.
Mamata Banerjee could not hide her concern as she dashed to Habra, a North 24 Parganas minority-dominated area, where she went and assuaged the Muslims that no one would be uprooted from their place of stay. The grant of citizenship or the denial of it can, however, be exercised only by the Union government and the state cannot have a say in it, though lakhs of illegal migrants crowd many border areas of Assam and West Bengal.
‘Over my dead body,’ roared the Bengal CM, against the implementation of CAA or NRC in Bengal, which seems beyond her state’s power anymore. Despite the fact that some of the West Bengal CM’s apprehensions are not unfounded, I think the Modi-Shah-led BJP is clearly in pole position right now.
The implementation of the CAA will strengthen the winning prospects of the BJP in selected pockets of a few states, which Ram may find difficult to tread. How can the CM retaliate? My guess is that she will withdraw a few announced candidates from her party to accommodate the Congress party and the Left to fight the BJP.
Did you say it was too late for that? I think not!
Sampath Kumar
Intrépide Voix
