'You only care about infiltrators': Amit Shah, at Kolkata rally, slams Mamata Banerjee's opposition to CAA, launches Aar Noi Annay campaign

Promising the public a ‘sonar Bangla’ (golden Bengal), Home Minister Amit Shah, at a rally in Kolkata on Sunday, hit out at West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee for her resistance to the Citizenship Amendment Act and vowed to win the upcoming Assembly polls and form the government. Shah, speaking at the Shahid Minar ground, launched a new statewide party movement Aar Noi Annay (no more injustice), to “highlight and protest the injustice caused to the people of West Bengal by the Mamata Banerjee government”. Shah also vowed to form the government in the upcoming state elections. “BJP has won 18 out of 42 seats in Lok Sabha. Mamata should be careful in the coming upcoming Assembly elections, it is the BJP who will form the government here,” Shah stated. “I want to ask Mamata didi, why are you hurting the interests of our refugees?” Shah said, as per a report in NDTV. “You only care about infiltrators. Refugees are being misled and scared… Hindus who fled our neighbouring countries who were raped and threatened and killed… should they not get citizenship?” Shah asked. “_Aar noy (_no more) tolabaji (extortion), appeasement, infiltration, violence… this is the slogan that will change the government of Bengal,” Shah said, rolling out the campaign crafted to counter Banerjee’s ‘Didi-ke bolo" outreach. Both campaigns focus on public feedback and have phone numbers that the public can call, NDTV reported. Shah further said that Mamata, who is opposing CAA, raised the issue of citizenship to refugees when she was in the Opposition. “Now, she is standing with the Congress and Communists in Opposition again. There were riots in Bengal. Trains and railway stations were burnt. How have the Dalits wronged you in any way? Why are you protesting when we want to give them citizenship?" Shah asked. “I am saying we will provide citizenship to everyone. People are being told that you will have to produce documents. BJP will provide citizenship to everyone, the chief minister cannot stop us," Shah added.

Sharing glimpse of Shahid Minar. #AarNoiAnnay pic.twitter.com/n3ORZXIGrb

— BJP West Bengal (@BJP4Bengal) March 1, 2020

Recalling the violence that occurred ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, Shah said, “When we came here for the election campaign, permissions were denied, stages were vandalized and false cases filed. More than 40 BJP workers lost their lives, but even after all this, Mamata di could you stop us?” He added the rally was against the “goons of Trinamool Congress”. Ahead of the rally, the home minister also inaugurated a new National Security Guards complex at Rajarhat. During the event, Shah said the country has zero tolerance towards terrorism and has developed a “proactive” defence policy under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He also said that India has now joined the league of countries such as the US and Israel in carrying out surgical strikes. Shah will later hold closed-door meetings with the state BJP leadership along with party chief JP Nadda over elections to 107 municipalities and the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC), which are being billed as “mini-Assembly elections” ahead of the crucial 2021 Assembly poll in West Bengal. Shah will also visit the Kalighat Temple in south Kolkata. Protests mar visit Protests erupted before Shah’s rally as Left parties staged agitations against in various parts of the city, including Park Circus and Shyambazar. Hours ahead of his arrival,  members of the Students’ Federation of India (SFI) gathered at the airport and took part in demonstrations against the Citizenship Amendment Act and the National Register of Citizens. Raising slogans, protesters waved black flags and held placards opposing the Home Minister’s visit of Shah to the city. As Shah arrived in the city on Sunday morning, hundreds of Left and Congress protesters, carrying black flags and anti-CAA posters, demonstrated outside the Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International Airport and raised ‘go back’ slogans. Later in the day, a minor scuffle broke out between police personnel and protesters in Esplanade area when agitators tried to break the barricade and enter Shahid Minar Ground where Shah later addressed a rally, a senior police officer said.

Kolkata erupts in rage against Amit Shah's visit. Protest continues across the city against #CAA_NRC_NPR which infringes on the basic premise of our Constitution of common citizenship regardless of diversities of caste, creed, gender, ethnicity & culture. #GoBackAmitShah pic.twitter.com/2jGStfPXsC

— CPI(M) WEST BENGAL (@CPIM_WESTBENGAL) March 1, 2020

CPI(M) Legislature Party leader Sujan Chakraborty led a large rally in Santoshpur in south Kolkata while Congress activists took out a protest march from Beckbagan to Park Circus and burnt an effigy of the Union home minister. CPI(M)-affiliated SFI and DYFI also took out rallies in Shyambazar, Gariahat, Behala, Kaikhali and Entally areas. Meanwhile, BJP workers also took out rallies from different points of the city.

Widespread protests continues in Kolkata over Amit Shah’s pro-CAA rally. Bengal rejects #CAA_NRC_NPR which infringes on the basic premise of our Constitution of common citizenship regardless of diversities of caste, creed, gender, ethnicity & culture. #GoBackAmitShah pic.twitter.com/GxSFuX5VVs

— CPI(M) WEST BENGAL (@CPIM_WESTBENGAL) March 1, 2020

With inputs from PTI