BJP trying to coerce Matuas over citizenship rights: TMC

Kolkata: Reacting sharply to the statement made by BJP's national vice-president Mukul Roy, veteran Trinamool Congress leader and MP Saugata Roy alleged that BJP was trying to coerce the Matua community by claiming that they would be given Indian citizenship rights soon.

"The Matuas are Indian citizens. They have EPIC cards and ration cards. They have been exercising voting rights. Under such a situation, the BJP is just trying to scare the Matuas and Namashudras by making such statements. They did the same thing before the 2019 Lok Sabha election and now they are repeating the same," Roy said.

"Mamata Banerjee had repeatedly insisted that Matuas are Indian citizens," he reiterated. Roy said the implementation of NRC and CAA had backfired in Assam as it was found that of the 19 lakh people whose names were dropped from the NRC, 12 lakh were Hindus.

"Now, the BJP had said the rules of CAA could not be prepared because of the pandemic. I do not understand why the BJP always tries to fool people. They are on the back foot in the implementation of CAA and NRC," he said.

Mukul Roy rushed to Thakurnagar, the headquarters of Matua community, after reports surfaced that the saffron party's MP, Santanu Thakur, may join Trinamool Congress for being dissatisfied over BJP's failure to implement CAA and NRC.

Earlier, Thakur had requested union Home minister Amit Shah to expedite the procedure to implement CAA and NRC in Bengal. He told the media that Shah would make an announcement in the matter on January 19 during his visit to Thakurnagar.