Why did a Union minister say he would apply for Indian citizenship under CAA?

Union minister Shantanu Thakur on Saturday said that he would apply for citizenship under the Citizenship Amendment Act to counter the “false propaganda” he alleged the Trinamool Congress was spreading against the law.

“I will also apply for citizenship although my great-grandmother took citizenship through migration and I do not need to apply [under the Citizenship Amendment Act],” said the Bharatiya Janata Party Janata Party Janata Party MP from Bongaon in West Bengal.

Thakur’s claim that he is Indian and not Bangladeshi means his Citizenship Amendment Act application would be a symbolic gesture. It comes in the face of rising anger in the Matua community about the Citizenship Amendment Act