Mamata Banerjee's remarks came after Shantanu Thakur said CAA will be implemented in a week. (File)
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday alleged that the Border Security Force (BSF) wants to provide a separate identity card to the people in the border areas and asked people to refrain from taking the card as they could be kicked out of the country under the National Register of Citizens (NRC).
Ms Banerjee's remarks came after Union Minister Shantanu Thakur said on Sunday that the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) would be implemented across the country in a week.
"The BSF is oppressing the people. The BSF wants to give a separate identity card to the people in the border areas. Remember, do not take the separate identity card that the BSF wants to give by entering the border area; say that I have an Aadhaar card or that I have a ration card; say that I will not take your card. If you take that card, you will come under the NRC, and they will throw you out," she said.
"Please enroll your name in the voters' list so that Delhi cannot get a chance to throw you out of the state," she added.
The CAA, introduced by the Narendra Modi government, aims to confer Indian citizenship to persecuted non-Muslim migrants, including Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists, Parsis, and Christians, who migrated from Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Afghanistan and arrived in India before December 31, 2014.
Following the passage of the CAA by Parliament in December 2019 and its subsequent presidential assent, significant protests erupted in various parts of the country.
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