Citizenship Amendment Bill will be brought before implementation of NRC in West Bengal, says Amit Shah

Union Home Minister Amit Shah said on Tuesday that the BJP-led Central government will not allow any "infiltrator" to stay in the county while refugees belonging to Hindu, Sikh, Jain, Buddhist, Parsi, and Christian religions will be given citizenship.

Addressing a public awakening programme in Kolkata on the National Register of Citizens (NRC), Shah said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi led NDA government will bring the Citizenship Amendment Bill before implementing the NRC.

He accused West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee of spreading misinformation about the NRC that Hindu refugees will have to leave West Bengal.

The minister said that he had come to the state to assure the residents that refugees belonging to Hindu, Buddhist, Jain, Sikh, Parsi, and Christian religions will be not be asked to leave the country.

He said the refugees belonging to these religious groups had come to India due to hardships they faced and most of them are from the Hindu community.

"Do not mock them or their pain will destroy you," he said.

Shah said the "Citizenship Amendment Bill will be brought before the implementation of NRC."

The Bill seeks to make migrants, who are Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis, and Christians from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and Pakistan, eligible for citizenship.

Shah, who is also the BJP chief, accused the Trinamool Congress of not allowing the passage of the Citizenship Amendment Bill in the Rajya Sabha.

He said Banerjee herself spoke against illegal migrants when she was in opposition but had changed her stance after they became her vote bank.

"We will not allow any refugee to go and we will not allow any infiltrator to stay," he said.

Shah urged the BJP workers to go to every house in Bengal and expose the Trinamool's campaign. "Political interest should not be above national interest and the interest of the state," he said.