The BJP has seized on the attacks on minority Hindus in Bangladesh to flag the “importance” of the Citizenship Amendment Act in a bid to corner the Trinamool Congress which vowed against the CAA’s implemenation in Bengal.

Mamata Banerjee has purportedly instructed Trinamool leaders to maintain strategic silence on the developments across the border to steer clear of provocation.

Leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari, who met Union home minister Amit Shah on Tuesday, said: “Nearly one crore Bangladeshi minorities (mostly Hindus) are expected to cross the border.”

“I have requested Amit Shahji to take initiative so that the interest of the minorities is protected, and he has assured me that the central government will do everything to restore peace and normality in Bangladesh,” added the Nandigram MLA. “The CAA was implemented in March, but this (state) government is not allowing it here. Now everyone will understand the importance of the Citizenship Amendment Act.”

The BJP’s Bengal leadership is ambiguous on a provision in the CAA that Bangladesh’s miniorities will be eligible for the Indian citizenship only if they entered India before December 31, 2014. However, some in the saffron camp claimed that the Act could be amended to welcome the minorities caught up in the strife in the neighbouring nation.

The CAA offers an expedited path to citizenship for religious minorities — Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians — from the Muslim-majority nations in India’s neighbourhood (Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan), who entered India before December 31, 2014.

BJP leader Dilip Ghosh claimed the people engaged in the violence and vandalism in Bangladesh were the “same people” who resisted the CAA in India. “They have now taken control of the TMC. Mamata Banerjee needs to know that she will also have to pay the price,” he added.

The BJP’s chief spokesperson for Bengal, Samik Bhattacharya, said everyone needed to understand that religious minorities of Bangladesh were under threat.

“The fundamentalist forces in Bangladesh are targeting the minorities. They are being killed and their places of worship are being destroyed. We need to look into the problem with a human face. We cannot sit idle and watch these things happen,” he claimed.

“Proper implementation of the CAA would have ensured smooth Indian citizenship who are religiously persecuted in our neighbouring countries. Where are those people who opposed CAA claiming that it was a process to identify the non-resident Indians and throw them out of the country. They should come forward and take the responsibility,” the BJP Rajya Sabha member said.

Asked how the CAA, with its December 31, 2014 cut-off date, could possibly be of use to those who might get to India from Bangladesh now, Bhattacharya declined comment.

A senior state BJP leader said: “You need to remember one thing that the central government will do everything to protect the life of the Hindus of Bangladesh. If there is proper law in the country, there is every scope to amend it. It will provide ample scope to accommodate the minorities of the neighbouring state.”

The TMC responded with caution.

“The most unfortunate part of the story is because of the faulty external affairs policies of this Centre, our relations with most of the neighbouring countries are not friendly,” said Santanu Sen of the TMC.

“When there is a turmoil in our neighbouring country, it is our duty to maintain peace and the secular character of the country, but instead of doing that the BJP has started its divisive politics, trying to politically exploit the situation,” he added.