West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee targeted the Center on Thursday (September 4, 2025) on the recent order under the Foreign Citizen Act, in which members of minority communities of neighboring countries have been allowed to stay in India without valid documents. He called it an election tactic.

During a discussion in the West Bengal Assembly on a government resolution to condemn the alleged atrocities on Bengali migrants, CM Mamata Banerjee claimed that the Center’s move is aimed at misleading the public before the upcoming elections. He accused the BJP of using such a strategy to polarize voters.

Discussion was not held in Parliament, BJP took unilateral decision- Mamta

West Bengal CM Mamta Banerjee said, ‘This is nothing but electoral tactics, but this time it will not work. There has been no discussion in Parliament on this new rule. How can the BJP take a unilateral decision on such matters? There is no discussion, debate or parliamentary committees to discuss or discuss such important issues? ‘

Referring to the implication of the order of the Center, Banerjee questioned whether those living without documents will be given the right to vote? He asked, ‘They (government) are saying that people who come without documents will be allowed to live. So will they be allowed to vote in elections? Will they get Aadhaar and ration cards? ‘

Banerjee said, ‘Will you provide ration, citizenship and constitutional rights to those who come till 2024? The BJP will have to clarify this because nothing is mentioned in these relevant issues in the new order. He questioned that the BJP had made such false promises before the 2019 and 2024 Lok Sabha elections, but how many people were really given citizenships?

Caa Under the government will give citizenship of India without papers

According to the Union Home Ministry, members of minority communities- Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians, who came to India by December 31, 2024, will be allowed to stay in the country without passports or other travel documents to avoid religious oppression from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan.

According to the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA), which came into force last year, Indian citizenship will be provided to the members of these oppressed minorities who came to India on or before 31 December 2014.

We will not let anyone take away the rights of citizens- Mamta

Banerjee expressed his strong opposition to the process of arbitrary and unilateral decisions of the Center on sensitive issues like immigration and citizenship. He said, ‘We will not let anyone snatch the rights of citizens. We follow the ideals of Ramakrishna (Paramahamsa), Netaji (Subhash Chandra Bose) and Rabindranath (Tagore). They have shown us the way and we will not wander even a step from him.

Mamta Banerjee spoke on the change in the GST system of the Center

In another issue raised during his speech, Banerjee said, “The decision to cut tax rates on a wide range of items commonly used by the GST Council recently, including personal health and life insurance, corn flex and television, is the result of his repeated protests for the past several years.”

Recalling his previous demands raised in the meetings of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council, he said, ‘I had demanded that insurance be exempted from GST. He was forced to do so. You imposed anti-public decisions, increased the tax burden and then made agreements with three-four countries. But we remained adamant on our attitude.

His remarks came a day after the announcement by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman that the GST Council has approved extensive changes in the Goods and Services Tax (GST) system. He also accused the Center of financial discrimination against West Bengal.

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