TMC leader and a minister in Mamata Banerjee led West Bengal government Siddiqullah Chowdhury today threatened that union home minister Amit Shah will not be allowed to step out of the airport whenever he visits Kolkata, if the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) is not withdrawn immediately. Chowdhury is also the state president of Jamiat-Ulema-e-Hind, and the minister of Mass Education, Library Services and Parliamentary Affairs.
The TMC leader said that the law is against humanity and the citizens of the country who are living here for ages. “We may not allow him (Shah) to step out of the city airport if necessary. We may gather one lakh people there to stop him,” he said during a protest organised by Jamiat-Ulema-e-Hind against the CAA.
Chowdhury assured that the anti-CAA protests will be democratic and peaceful, and they wont resort to violence. “We don’t believe in violent protests, but we will certainly oppose CAA and the National Register of Citizens (NRC) tooth and nail,” he said during the rally at Rani Rasmoni Avenue in Kolkata.
Attacking PM Modi for the CAA, the Bengali minister said that the “56-inch chest” of PM Narendra Modi has let down the people of the country, as he is “pursuing the politics of hatred and division”. “What they (Modi and Shah) are doing is thrusting one agenda after another on the people. They don’t believe in discussion, they don’t believe in dialogue. We won’t let them pursue this,” he added.
Mamata Banerjee and her party TMC is one of the most vocal critics of the, and the proposal to implement the NRC at the national level. The Bengal CM has even demanded an UN-monitored referendum on CAA and NRC. She had said, “If BJP has guts, it should go for a UN-monitored referendum on amended Citizenship Act and NRC,” creating a huge uproar across the country.