Amit Shah Reaches Kolkata Amid Anti-CAA Protests, Black Balloons Raised Outside Airport

Union Home Minister Amit Shah reached the West Bengal capital on Sunday to address a rally to ‘clear the confusion’ surrounding the amended Citizenship Act. Shah was greeted by the West Bengal BJP leadership, led by state party president Dilip Ghosh. Hundreds of protesters of the Left Front and Congress, holding black flags and anti-CAA posters, demonstrated outside gate number 1 of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International Airport. Police had put up a barricade to prevent them from crossing over to the entrance of the airport.

Amit Shah is scheduled to address the rally at the Shaheed Minar Ground, where the state unit of the BJP will felicitate him for the passage of the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill in Parliament, the BJP said. "The Trinamool Congress government has created confusion over the Citizenship (Amendment) Act. Amit Shahji will clear that confusion. It is most likely that he will give a befitting reply to the canards spread by the TMC,” news agency PTI quoted a senior state BJP leader said.

He also said that it was necessary to address the issue, especially in Bengal as chaos has been "deliberately created by the TMC" among the people that the “National Population Register (NPR) is linked with National Register of Citizens (NRC)”.

Shah along with JP Nadda will hold a closed-door meeting with BJP party functionaries and finalise the party’s strategy for the upcoming municipal poll in the state, he said.

The election to 107 municipalities of the state and the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) are being billed as “mini assembly elections” ahead of the crucial 2021 assembly poll in West Bengal.

“We will place our report on municipal polls before him and Naddaji,” the BJP leader said.

Last week, Shah and TMC chief Mamata Banerjee, who have been bitter critics of each other, had a lunch together at Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik’s residence, where they were also joined by Bihar CM Nitish Kumar. The lunch, during which Shah and Banerjee sat facing each other across the table, was hosted by Patnaik after the Eastern Zonal Council meeting.

Banerjee said, "I joined the lunch together with respected Home Minister, respected Naveenji and respected Nitishji." In a tweet, Patnaik said, "Such a pleasure having the company of Union Home Minister@Amit Shah ji, my colleague CMs, @MamataOfficial, @NitishKumar ji & Union Minister @dpradhanbjp ji at Naveen Niwas. Had a wonderfully interactive time over some home cooked #Odia delicacies (sic)."

(With PTI Inputs)