Assembly Election 2021 News LIVE Updates: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will attend meetings in Bengal and Assam today as the poll-bound states gear up for assembly polls. PM Modi, who has been leading the charge against West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, had earlier said the state was ready for “poriborton”. “Your presence is sending a big message from here to Delhi…it is clear the state has made its decision for development and progress,” said Modi at a public rally in Hooghly. Launching a frontal attack on the Banerjee government, Modi alleged it has perpetuated “syndicate raj” in all spheres of life in West Bengal where no work gets done without common people having to pay “cut money”. He accused the TMC government of pursuing “appeasement politics” to protect its vote bank while neglecting its cultural heritage and icons.
Meanwhile, BJP President JP Nadda on Tuesday asserted that the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) has been passed by the Parliament and will be implemented “in time”. Nadda after releasing the party’s manifesto for the Assam elections said that the law, (which does not find a mention in the manifesto), is a central legislation and the Congress claim that they will not allow its implemenation in the state, if voted to power, may be either “due to their ignorance or they are trying to fool the people of the state”. “I do not want to comment on the Congress thinking but their approach is not only problematic but also dangerous for the state”, he said. The highly contentious CAA seeks to provide Indian citizenship to Hindus, Jains, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists and Parsis entering India on or before December 31, 2014 from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan after five years of residence here.
Assam’s identity is inextricably linked to Vaishanav saint Srimanta Sankardeva, Bharat Ratnas Dr Bhupen Hazarika and Gopinath Bordoloi and “now can we allow it to be linked with Badruddin Ajmal” (AIUDF chief with whose party the Congress has entered into an alliance for the state polls). The BJP is committed to protect and preserve the “identity and culture” of Assam, keeping the “natural process of cultural change intact”.