The West Bengal unit of the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) is preparing to set up over 1,000 Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) awareness camps across the state. The move comes ahead of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral roll that is being planned nationwide.
The BJP’s senior leadership in the state has directed workers to encourage persecuted Hindu refugees from Bangladesh living in West Bengal to apply for citizenship under the CAA.
“This was an agenda for the BJP from day one. There was a slight delay in framing the rules due to the Covid pandemic, but we are ready,” state BJP president and MP Samik Bhattacharya told Indian Express.
The report by the Indian Express also mentioned that apart from BJP, other Hindu organisations, non-political groups and local volunteers will also be mobilised for the camps. Districts like Nadia, North 24 Parganas, Cooch Behar and Uttar Dinajpur will be on focus.
The BJP leader added that these CAA camps will mostly be set in Bengal-Bangladesh border areas where the demographic composition has already changed. “We are seeing the demography in several districts changing, mainly in border areas; thus, there will be more camps there,” Bhattacharya said.
With this outreach and CAA awareness program, the BJP aims to consolidate Hindu votes and reach out to Matua and other Hindu refugee communities. These Hindu communities came to Bengal till 2024 escaping persecution at the hands of Islamists in Bangladesh.
The BJP leaders say that the CAA and SIR will help identify fake and deceased voters, as well as illegal Muslim immigrants staying in Bengal.
Notably, according to the results of a study titled “Electoral Roll Inflation in West Bengal: A Demographic Reconstruction of Legitimate Voter Counts (2024)” the 2024 electoral roll of West Bengal could show an astounding 13.69% inflation amounting to 1 crore additional voters.
