New Delhi/IBNS: Union Home Minister Amit Shah has hit out at West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for opposing the controversial Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), which was implemented by the Centre earlier this week.

Speaking to ANI, Shah has accused Mamata of creating a rift between Hindus and Muslim through her opposition to CAA and "consolidating her votebank".

Shah said, "Mamata Banerjee, there are thousands of platforms to do politics, but please do not harm the Bengali Hindus who have come from Bangladesh. You are a Bengali too... I openly challenge her to show me one section of this law that takes away anyone's citizenship.

"She is creating fear... and consolidating her vote bank. Mamata Banerjee should not stop us from doing this, she should stop infiltration in her state. Infiltration has completely stopped in Assam because the BJP is in power there..."

The Home Minister, who is the top leader of Mamata's arch-rival Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), has also slammed the Chief Minister for allegedly not stopping the infiltration in the state.

Shah said, "She is creating fear... Mamata Banerjee should not stop us from doing this, she should stop infiltration in her state."

The Home Minister claimed the BJP will stop infiltration in West Bengal if it comes to power in the state, where the saffron party never came to power.

Shah said, "The day is not far when BJP will come to power there (West Bengal) and will stop infiltration. If you (Mamata Banerjee) do this kind of politics and with such an important national security issue, you allow infiltration by doing appeasement politics and oppose the refugees from getting citizenship, then people will not be with you.

"Mamata Banerjee does not know the difference between a person taking refuge and an infiltrator..."

Mamata Banerjee, who is taking Shah's BJP head on, has urged people not to apply for CAA or else they would, as she alleged, lose their rights immediately.

"There is no clarity in the rules. I am not against granting citizenship but an Act which discriminates against people," she said.

The CAA notification paved the way for granting Indian citizenship to people belonging to Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi, and Christian communities on grounds of religious persecution in Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh from 1947 to 2015.

The Parliament passed the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill in December 2019.