The BJP, headed by its top leadership from Delhi, on Wednesday organised a workshop in Calcutta to train party workers, leaders, and representatives of several like-minded apolitical organisations on the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).
The trainees will return to their areas and lead others to facilitate lakhs of persecuted Hindu refugees in applying for citizenship certificates ahead of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral roll.
“We have been planning to organise hundreds of camps to help persecuted Hindu refugees who came to Bengal at different times, to obtain citizenship status. This is important ahead of the SIR, which will soon be announced by the Election Commission. Today’s meeting was meant to train and educate them about the steps of application and legal points, followed by a Q&A session,” said a senior state BJP leader.
“Once the SIR is announced, the number of camps will be increased to expedite the application process. Besides helping people apply under the CAA, creating awareness among the common people is also the party’s target,” he added.
Wednesday’s workshop was headed by the BJP’s national general secretary (organisation) B.L. Santhosh, who is also the party’s Bengal minder. A source said that though a rough estimate of 700 such camps has been planned, the number would increase.
Among the 17 Bengal districts, where the party will organise such camps, the BJP’s main focus will be on the Bangladesh-bordering districts, including North
24-Parganas and Nadia in south Bengal, and Cooch Behar and North Dinajpur in north Bengal.
As the Election Commission is likely to announce the SIR soon, a section of BJP leaders believes that obtaining citizenship certificates is crucial for those who came to India after 2002.
BJP state president Samik Bhattacharya said his party would not let a single persecuted Hindu refugee face any problem.
A source said that, as per rough estimates, there are around two crore such people who need to apply under CAA 2019, but only around 50,000 have applied for citizenship so far.
Jagannath Sarkar, BJP MP from Ranaghat and an important member of the party’s citizenship drive committee, told The Telegraph that the BJP would help all persecuted Hindu refugees—beyond their political and social identity—obtain citizenship under the CAA 2019.
“CAA is an Act, and it is a right for all those who are eligible to get citizenship. We will help all those people who came from Bangladesh or Pakistan following religious persecution, mainly Hindus, by holding hundreds of camps,” said Sarkar, who was one of the whistle-blowers demanding citizenship status for Hindu refugees.
A senior party leader said that on Wednesday, senior party workers and leaders from the community attended the programme as they first needed to clear the ‘ifs and buts’ before convincing people to apply under the CAA.
“A large number of people were afraid to apply for citizenship status, fearing they might be branded as infiltrators following a silent campaign by the ruling Trinamool Congress on the ground. Our goal is to convince and educate them. If the leaders themselves are not familiar with the CAA and the process to get a citizenship certificate, how will they convince common people? That is why such a workshop was organised,” said a BJP leader.
The Trinamool Congress, however, claimed that fearing defeat in the forthcoming Assembly elections, the BJP has been trying to instigate people with its divisive agenda.
“Who is the BJP to hold camps for the CAA? It is an attempt to instigate people and a ploy for their divisive politics. The main goal should be the development of Bengal’s people,” said Trinamool leader Kunal Ghosh.
