Fight club

Mamata Banerjee is using her aggressive campaign against the Citizenship Act to unite and lead regional leaders against the BJP

- Rabi Banerjee

When the Rajya Sabha took up the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill on December 11, Trinamool Congress MPs proposed the maximum number of amendments. All were voted down by the house. The Trinamool and its leader, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, however, have not given up their fight. Mamata has vowed not to implement the Citizenship (Amendment) Act in West Bengal and has taken to the streets against it. She has even appeared in television advertisements against the CAA and the proposed National Register of Citizens.

West Bengal has erupted in anger. Violent protests have been reported from Murshidabad district, where more than 70 per cent of the population is Muslim, and from the North and South Parganas districts, the North and South Dinajpur districts and Malda. Dozens of trains and railway stations were set on fire, causing damages amounting to ₹1,500 crore. As protests remained unabated, Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar called Mamata’s television advertisements and street protests unconstitutional.

“She is a chief minister who took the oath to protect the Constitution. How could she go against the law of the land?” asked Dhankhar. “The CAA is passed by Parliament, the president gave his assent and the Supreme Court has refused to stay it. How can a chief minister oppose it using taxpayers’ money?”

On December 23, taking up a bunch of public interest litigations, the Calcutta High Court asked the West Bengal government to suspend all state-funded advertisements against the CAA and the NRC till further hearing on January 9. But it is unlikely to stop Mamata.