Published 20:27 IST, January 8th 2020
West Bengal artists, academicians write to PM Modi in support of CAA
In an exclusive interview to Republic TV, actor Rupanjana Mitra advocated for the letter to PM signed by Anjana Basu, Prof Debashish Chowdhury and others
Academicians, filmmakers, actors, artists from West Bengal have written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi extending their support to the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA), which grants citizenship to persecuted minorities from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and Pakistan.
The letter reads, "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 through for finally settling this excruciating episode, which has been tormenting and afflicting the Bengali psyche and soul for the last seventy years, since time of partition"
Rupanjana Mitra speaks to Republic TV
In an exclusive interview to Republic TV, actor Rupanjana Mitra advocated for the letter to PM on Wednesday. "What I know of it is that we are calling refugees who were outside. Some people couldn't come to India during the partition, so CAA allows them to come back to India. Hence, I support this Act", said the actor.
The signatories include Anjana Basu, Prof Debashish Chowdhury, Arindam Chakraborty, Advocate Joydip Sen, Supriyo Bandyopadhyay, Anindya Pulak Banerjee, Milan Bhowmik, Sanjay Som, and Rantidev Sengupta apart from Rupanjana Mitra.
"Pan India a lot of artist have not supported it. Yesterday, I saw Deepika going to JNU. Swara Bhaskar went as well. Have heard her saying that she doesn't have documents to prove her identification. She says how will she prove her citizenship? If one doesn't have Aadhar, Pan, school certificate, anything then what are they here for in India? That is my question. I am a citizen, I pay my taxes, GST, everything. I'm a part of the economic development of the country, I'm ready to give my identification", said Rupanjana on CAA facing a lot of opposition from the artist community as well.
The actor feels that the issue is being blown out of proportion by the opposition. She stated that narrative is being changed and being given a communal colour and it is not to divide Hindus and Muslims.
The CAA or the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 grants citizenship to Hindu, Sikh, Jain, Parsi, Buddhist, and Christian refugees from Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh who came to India on or before December 31, 2014 was passed recently by both the houses of Parliament.
Updated 20:27 IST, January 8th 2020