NEW DELHI: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said on Wednesday that the Centre will not be allowed to carry out exercises of the National Register of Citizens and Citizenship Amendment Act in the state. “It is only before elections. I have already said it 3-4 times. Our stand is very clear. It is only to show the people and trouble them. They have NRC at the back of their minds. We won’t allow both to take place (NRC and CAA),” Mamata Banerjee said. On Monday evening, the Union Home Ministry notified rules for the implementation of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), days ahead of the announcement of the Lok Sabha election schedule. Earlier today, Kerala Law Minister P Rajeev informed that the State government will challenge the Centre’s Citizenship (Amendment) Act in the Supreme Court, adding that it will pray to the apex court to declare the act “anti-Constitutional”. “Earlier, we had approached the Supreme Court, against the CAA. Our prayer was that it was against the basic structure of the Constitution. It is against the basic fundamental principles of the Constitution, and we pray to declare the CAA anti-Constitutional. Now we have decided to approach the Supreme Court again and we have a ligated advocate general to interact with our senior counsel in the Supreme Court and take proper action to approach the SC,” Kerala Law Minister P Rajeev told ANI. Earlier today, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said on Wednesday that helpline numbers will be launched soon to assist applicants for Indian citizenship under the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 (CAA-2019). According to MHA, the applicants will be able to get information related to CAA-2019 by calling free of cost. “Helpline numbers to assist applicants for Indian citizenship under CAA -2019 will be launched soon. Applicants will be able to get information related to CAA-2019 by calling free of cost from anywhere in India. The service will be available from 8 am to 8 pm,” MHA posted on X. Citizenship (Amendment) Act aims to provide 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.
