Mamata opposing CAA against interest of Bengali Hindus claims BJP; CAA has nothing to do with citizenship retorts TMC

The West Bengal unit of Bharatiya Janata Party on Friday (December 26, 2025) targeted Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and said that by opposing the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, Ms. Banerjee was not merely opposing a law; she was acting against Bengali Hindus.

“By opposing the CAA, Mamata Banerjee was not merely opposing a law, she was acting against Bengali Hindus and against crores of families who suffered torture, brutality, and displacement—families whose members were killed, whose mothers, sisters, and daughters were raped, and who were forced to flee their homeland, leaving behind all their property and dignity,” the W.B. unit of BJP posted on social media.

The remarks by the BJP comes at a time when Bangladesh is on the boil and the party is raising the issue of attacks on Hindus in the neighbouring country. The West Bengal unit of the BJP also claimed that 1.13 crore Hindus left Bangladesh between 1964 and 2013.

“When Narendra Modi ji introduced the CAA to provide relief to such families who had faced religious persecution, Mamata Banerjee opposed it with her full force, purely to appease a vote bank. At the same time, she has shown willingness to allow illegal Bangladeshi Muslims and Rohingyas to remain in the country,” the social media post said.

The Trinamool Congress retorted the claims of the BJP by saying that CAA was never about citizenship. “It was a political instrument to toy with people’s aspirations, the very people you have now betrayed through SIR, carried out in cahoots with the ECI,” the West Bengal’s ruling party said.

The Trinamool Congress challenged the “BJP to reveal the exact number of people granted citizenship under CAA”.

“Since 2019, you have weaponised the promise of citizenship as bait to dupe and deceive vulnerable communities. Your Home Ministry dragged its feet for years, taking extension after extension just to frame the CAA rules. You dredged up the issue again before the 2024 elections, the power-hungry opportunists you have always been,” the TMC posted from its social media handles.

Passed in 2019, the  Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) provided opportunities for illegal migrants from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and Pakistan who are Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi, or Christian to register under Indian citizens who have entered India on or before December 31, 2014. The rules of CAA were passed in 2024 but there are no figures available on how many people have applied for citizenship under the Act.