CAA opponents warm up in Calcutta -Over 200 Calcuttans came together at Rajabazar on Saturday, the first anniversary of the citizenship act

A performance at the Joint Forum Against NRC event at Rajabazar crossing in Calcutta on Saturday. : Gautam Bose

Arkamoy Datta Majumdar   |   TT   |   Calcutta   |    13.12.20  :  Kaneez Fatima asked her husband to do her share of work on Saturday so that she could be part of a gathering that not only looked back at the events that unfolded this time last year but also resolved to continue the fight just when storm clouds were gathering again.

Over  200 Calcuttans came together at Rajabazar on Saturday, the first anniversary of the citizenship act.

The meeting was organised by the Joint Forum Against NRC, a public platform associated with the anti-CAA and anti-NRC movements in Bengal. The forum said on Saturday that its supporters were ready to start protests the moment the BJP-led Centre started implementing the act.

“The act came into being exactly a year ago, which led to nationwide protests. If the Narendra Modi government issues a gazette notification to implement the act, we will again hit the streets to prevent its implementation,” said forum convener Prasenjit Bose.

“The BJP is gearing up with its politics of communal polarisation as polls are nearing. This is why their leaders are talking about the CAA again,” Bose said, adding these comments prompted them to prepare for protests again.

Union home minister Amit Shah’s proposed visit to Bongaon on December 19 was a part of the BJP’s plan to fuel pro-CAA sentiments and polarise Bengal voters, he added.

Bongaon and Ranaghat Lok Sabha constituencies, both currently represented by the BJP, are dominated by the Matua community. Some members of the community have problems with citizenship, and the BJP is trying to woo them with the new citizenship matrix. Chief minister Mamata Banerjee has told the community that they were already citizens and did not need the laws.

BJP’s Bengal minder Kailash Vijayvargiya met the Matua community in Thakurnagar, North 24-Parganas, on Saturday and told them that the act would be implemented by January or February.

On Saturday, among the audience at Rajabazar was Fatima, 43, from Narkeldanga. Fatima, who makes cardboard trays for a living with her husband Abu Zafer, 53. They have two school-going daughters.

“Today (Saturday) I asked my husband to do my share of work as well, so that I can come here,” Fatima told this correspondent. “This protest was led by women like me and if they need me to come and sit here again, I will. It is, after all, a question of my identity and my country,” Fatima added.