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| BJP leader Tathagata Roy |
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and former Meghalaya governor Tathagata Roy has suggested circumcision test to be conducted of a male applicant seeking citizenship in India under the controversial Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).
The Trinamool Congress, West Bengal based political party, strongly criticized Tathagata Roy's comments, saying he should be ashamed.
In a post on his X handle, Roy has written,"TMC is raining disinformation in West Bengal about CAA. Chances of people being misled are increasing by the day. Union Home Ministry must wake up and CLARIFY THE FOLLOWING WITHOUT DELAY: How would a Hindu fugitive from Islamic torture in Bangladesh who entered India with only the clothes on his or her back earn citizenship? What would be the status of a fugitive whose application for citizenship is rejected?"
"To my mind the answers should be as follows: A Hindu, Buddhist or Christian fugitive MUST BE PRESUMED TO BE ENTITLED TO CITIZENSHIP. The test of the religious status of a male must be CIRCUMCISION OR OTHERWISE. All females accompanying a male so found to be Hindu must be PRESUMED TO BE ENTITLED TO CITIZENSHIP," Roy added.
Trinamool Congress heavily reacted to the comments of the politician. In an X post the TMC said, Tathagata Roy sunk to new depths of BIGOTRY" by the suggestions."
"This....exemplifies the REGRESSIVE MINDSET and TOXIC CULTURE perpetuated by @BJP4India. Such DISCRIMINATORY and DEHUMANISING remarks have no place in a civilised society", it added.
Roy then responded to the TMC criticism and said in another X post on Monday,"OMG, what coyness, what modesty! Big deal about checking whether a male is circumcised or not!"CAA completely excludes Muslims from conferring of citizenship. So in case of doubt this test is perfectly in order."
In a latest post, he defended his remark saying,"I had suggested checking whether a male is circumcised or not when his religion is in doubt. Because Muslims are completely excluded from CAA. I stick to what I posted."
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