‘Your job is to douse fire’

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee yesterday lashed out at Union home minister Amit Shah for bringing in the amended citizenship law, which she termed "divisive", and said he must douse the fire caused by the legislation. 

The TMC supremo said if Aadhaar is not a proof of citizenship as per the home minister, then why was it linked to welfare schemes and the banking system.

"I urge Amit Shah to ensure that the country does not burn. Your job is to douse the fire," she said after leading the third protest march against the amended citizenship law from Howrah Maidan to Esplanade in Kolkata. 

The chief minister also appealed to Shah to take care of the country and "control" BJP cadres. 

In a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 'Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas' slogan, she said the BJP government has brought disaster for everyone in the country. 

"They want to turn the entire country into a detention centre. But we will not let that happen," she said, reiterating that she won't allow the implementation of the citizenship law and the NRC in West Bengal. 

The Chief Minister has already stopped work on the National Population Register - considered the first step before rolling out the citizens' list across the country that's meant to weed out illegal migrants.  Mamata is one of the three Chief Ministers who have refused to implement the citizenship law - meant to expedite citizenship for non-Muslims from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh who moved to India till 2014 after facing religious persecution.

The other two are Kerala's Pinarayi Vijayan and Punjab's Amarinder Singh. 

Meanwhile, one of India's top Muslim cleric yesterday appealed for restraint while exercising the democratic right to protest against the Citizenship Amendment Act . 

Syed Ahmed Bukhari, the Shahi Imam of Delhi's Jama Masjid, stressed that the CAA "has nothing to do with Muslims living in India," according to a video posted by Indian news agency ANI.    

Imam Ahmed Bukhari's appeal for restraint came after violence at Delhi's Jamia Millia University on Sunday and arson and pitched battles between protesters and Delhi Police at Seelampur in east Delhi.