Mamata Banerjee targets Amit Shah over CAA

Kolkata: A day after hitting out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee trained her guns on Union home minister Amit Shah for reiterating on Tuesday that the Citizenship Amendment Act and National Register of Citizens will be implemented.

Tearing into his statement, the Trinamul supremo advised the BJP president of dousing the fire instead of “setting the country on fire” after leading her protest march from Howrah to Esplanade for the third consecutive day in the city.

She even wondered if the “BJP amulet” would give the validity to live in the country, and said that the saffron party will turn the country into a “detention centre.”

Sending a strong message to Shah on Wednesday, the Trinamul chief told the rally, “I will make one request to the Union home minister. Please remember, you are the home minister of the country. Setting the country on fire is not your job. Dousing the fire in the country is your task. It is my appeal to you with folded hands.”

Posing a volley of questions to the BJP president, she angrily asked, “Why are you reiterating that the Act will be implemented when Assam, Tripura, Delhi, Punjab and many other states are burning? Why are you asserting that the Aadhaar cards will be of no use? If so, what was Aadhaar card made for? That means the cat is out of the bag.”

Banerjee claimed, “You had said it. So I want a clarification as a citizen of the country. I have the prerogative and right to ask you. When the home minister of a country makes a statement in public that Aadhaar card would not be useful, then why were `6,000 crore  spent after it?”

She also noted, “Why was Aadhaar card linked with telephone, bank accounts and passports when it is invalid? Why were the people thrown in panic? Why is the income tax there if PAN will be invalid? Now they are claiming even voter ID would be invalid. Your and my governments are in power because the voters cast their ballot. If the voters’ list, Aadhaar card and PAN will be invalid, will it be the BJP amulet which will only work?”