Thakurnagar (North 24 Parganas): CM Suvendu Adhikari on Sunday announced that the state govt aims to complete hearings on all pending Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) applications in Bengal and issue certificates to eligible applicants by Dec 31.Addressing International Gosai Conference at the Matua pilgrimage site of Thakurbari in Thakurnagar, North 24 Parganas, the CM said, “Around 2.5 lakh CAA applications are pending. Hearings on 25,000 applications are over and citizenship certificates have been handed to them. Hearings on the remaining applications will be over by Dec 31. Everyone found eligible will get a CAA certificate. Once they receive their certificates, their names will be included in the electoral roll and their citizenship will be secured,” he said.On his first visit to Thakurbari as CM, Adhikari made a series of announcements for the Matua community, including an allocation of Rs 50 crore for its development. He promised health insurance coverage for Matuas of up to Rs 5 lakh per family and said an official in the CM’s office would coordinate the implementation of welfare schemes for the community.Community members above 60 will get an old-age pension of Rs 1,500 per month and women aged 25 and 60 years will receive Rs 3,000 a month under Annapurna Yojana, he said.Matua Development Board will be reconstituted and Rs 50 crore will be spent through it during the current fiscal. “The Chandpara health centre will be upgraded to a 100-bed hospital within six months and named after Baro Ma (Matua matriarch) Binapani Devi,” Adhikari announced. The hospital will have a Special Newborn Care Unit and a Pradhan Mantri Bhartiya Janaushadhi Kendra.He also said the next state budget would announce a municipality for Thakurnagar.The CM promised to facilitate the construction of a grand temple in Thakurbari. “An architect will be sent to prepare a detailed project report for the temple,” he said, adding he wants to invite PM Narendra Modi to inaugurate the temple.Adhikari targeted former CM Mamata Banerjee and former food minister Jyotipriya Mallick, accusing the erstwhile Trinamool govt of introducing divisive politics in Thakurbari. “There will be no more divisions or discrimination in Thakurbari,” he said.Launching an attack on what he described as anti-national forces, Adhikari said, “Dimagi Naxals, Maoists, cockroaches and bedbugs — all those who are trying to destabilise the country and the state — have joined hands. We will fight them. We have experienced displacement once. My mother was driven out of Bangladesh with nothing except the clothes she was wearing, just because she was a Hindu,” he said.Referring to the CAA provisions, he said Union home minister Amit Shah had announced on Sept 1, 2025, that those who had entered India from Bangladesh till Dec 31, 2024, to save their lives would not be touched by police. “After the change of regime in Bangladesh, many Matuas and other Hindus faced atrocities. When this reached Modiji’s ears, Mamata’s police selectively put Hindus behind bars,” he alleged.“Matua refugees languishing in jails in Bongaon, Barasat, Ranaghat or elsewhere without trial because of atrocities committed by the Trinamool govt will be released from jail with dignity. Like Yogi-ji, I will provide them land and build houses for them,” he said.
