West Bengal BJP urges Bangladeshi Hindu refugees to use for citizenship beneath CAA forward of 2026 polls

Leaders of the West Bengal unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party on Saturday (October 25, 2025) urged ‘refugees of non secular persecution’ from Bangladesh to use for Indian citizenship beneath the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) as quickly as doable, and claimed their names will seem on the State’s voters’ record.

“We request Bangladeshi Hindu refugees to enrol in CAA camps. On behalf of the BJP and the Rashtravadi Vichar Parivar, a number of camps are being organised, with computer systems, printers and laptops. Please go to these camps, contact the BJP mandals. Every mandal has a number of help camps happening. Please apply, the Indian authorities and the West Bengal BJP will stand beside you,” Leader of Opposition in West Bengal Assembly and BJP MLA Suvendu Adhikari stated on Saturday.

He additionally clarified that Bangladeshi Hindus who’ve entered West Bengal resulting from spiritual persecution “will not be infiltrators, they’re refugees”.

“Till now, roughly 14,000 folks have utilized to the CAA. None of them have misplaced their jobs or stopped receiving any welfare advantages from the Centre or State. They haven’t confronted any bother… It is the LoP’s assure and request that, apply to CAA as quickly as doable, your title will probably be on the voters’ record,” Mr Adhikari added.

The CAA is a citizenship regulation that enables individuals belonging to Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi or Christian communities from Afghanistan, Bangladesh or Pakistan who entered into India on or earlier than 31.12.2014 to submit functions for Indian citizenship beneath a particular provision, in keeping with the Home Ministry’s Indian Citizenship Online Portal.

Notably, the Immigration and Foreigners (Exemption) Order, 2025, additionally carried provisions for folks of the identical communities who entered India resulting from spiritual persecution earlier than December 31, 2024.

The BJP is about to organise greater than 700 CAA camps throughout the State forward of an impending Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the State’s electoral rolls and the Assembly polls in 2026. In West Bengal, the Matua neighborhood particularly is predicted to learn largely from the CAA and is taken into account as a robust votebank for the BJP.

‘Do not concern SIR’

Union Minister Sukanta Majumdar and Mr Adhikari held a joint rally at Gangarampur within the Dakshin Dinajpur district on Saturday. During the rally, Mr Majumdar stated the folks of West Bengal whose names or whose dad and mom’ names are within the 2002 voters’ record “needn’t concern SIR” and urged Hindu foreigners to use for citizenship beneath CAA provisions.

“If your title or your dad and mom’ names don’t function within the 2002 record, you belong to one among two classes… in the event you’re Hindu and from Bangladesh, we’ve made provisions so that you can change into an Indian citizen beneath CAA,” Mr Majumdar stated.

He added that the occasion’s combat for 2026 is of “aar-paar” (two sides of a border). This assertion assumes significance in gentle of the stark differentiation the saffron occasion has made between ‘infiltrators’ and ‘refugees’ from neighbouring nations, within the context of voter record revision and CAA camps respectively.

This improvement follows BJP State President Samik Bhattacharya’s social media publish on Friday, the place he accused the West Bengal authorities of issuing delayed beginning registrations in State-run hospitals of bordering districts. For reference, beginning certificates are thought of a vital doc in proving one’s eligibility throughout the voter record revision.