Section of intellectuals & filmmakers from Bengal write to PM extending support to CAA

Amid the outrage over the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) which sparked violent protests in several places across the nation followed by a section of Bollywood supporting the Anti-CAA protests, several groups of academicians, filmmakers, actors and artists from West Bengal have written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi extending their support to CAA.

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'CAA - A final settlement of excruciating episode'

"We the people of West Bengal express our sincerest gratitude and unreserved admiration from the deepest core of our heart to you for enacting the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and for finally settling this excruciating episode, which has been tormenting and afflicting the Bengali psyche and soul for the last seventy years, since the time of partition," reads the letter, a copy of which was accessed by ANI.

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Nine signatories -- Anjana Basu, Prof Debashish Chowdhury, Arindam Chakraborty, Advocate Joydip Sen, Supriyo Bandyopadhyay, Anindya Pulak Banerjee, Milan Bhowmik, Sanjay Som, and Rantidev Sengupta have confirmed to ANI that they have signed the letter along with others addressed to the Prime Minister, extending support to CAA.

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"History bears witness to the fact that partition has caused more pain and penury to the Bengali people than any other. A few far-sighted Bengali leaders and thought-leaders in the past had foreseen the calamitous consequences of partition. Their wholehearted efforts resulted in the creation of West Bengal. The long list of these sagacious personalities includes Sir Jadunath Sarkar, historian RC Majumdar, Prof Suniti Kumar Chattopadhyay, Dr Meghnad Saha and last but not the least, Dr Syama Prasad Mukhopadhyay," the letter adds.

"This painful episode of our history of partition and its continuing suffering in aftermath of partition, especially on the Bengal front would have remained suppressed and the victims neglected and marginalized through relentless propaganda of the combined opposition, had it not for this humane and historic step of yours, making this a watershed moment of our history," the letter states.

The Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019, grants citizenship to Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Parsis, Buddhists and Christians fleeing religious persecution from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh and came to India on or before December 31, 2014. 

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