Union Home Minister Amit Shah is in Kolkata at present and is scheduled to address a rally at Shahid Minar Ground in Kolkata. Many leftist groups and Muslim led organisations have been holding protests against the CAA in Kolkata. This would be Shah’s second visit to Kolkata after assuming office as the Union Minister. According to the BJP, over one lakh party workers will attend Shah’s ‘Abhinandan’ rally during which he will speak about the CAA.
Party workers from different parts of the city have been arriving at Kolkata to welcome Union Home Minister Amit Shah. They are expected to take out rallies from different points in the city including Howrah station station and converge at the rally venue.
CPM leader Mohammad Salim has urged people to come out to the streets and protest against Amit Shah’s visit to the state. He told reporters, “ The youth and students’ wing of our party will hit the streets on March 1 to protest against the arrival of the union home minister here. All democratic people should also join the protest.” Many protestors did gather at different parts of the city to protest against Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s arrival in the city and also showed him black flags, slogans of “Go Back” were also chanted. There is high deployment of police close to the rally venue and security has been amped. Just a couple of hours before Amit Shah arrived in Kolkata, CM Mamata Banrjee tweeted, “ Today on UN ‘Zero Discrimination Day’, it pains me to witness the politics of discrimination being woven into the fabric of India. Let us pledge to uproot all forms of division based on caste, creed and religion from our society. We will never stand for discrimination of any kind.”.
Throughout the campaign which is called “Aar Noi Annay”, the BJP will address six crore votes across the state for the upcoming six months. This will be inaugurated by Amit Shah on March 1. Through this campaign, the BJP will highlight the alleged discrepancies and grievances that people have had over the years against CM Mamata Banerjee’s government. The party also wants to reach out to voters in a bid to clear confusion about the NPR and NRC.
