CAA will be implemented across India in next 7 days, vows Union Minister

News Network

January 29, 2024

Union Minister Shantanu Thakur has claimed the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA), which was cleared by Parliament in December 2019, would be implemented across the country within the next seven days.

Addressing a public meeting at Kakdwip in South 24 Parganas district on Sunday, January 28, the Union Minister of State for Shipping, Ports and Waterways said, “Just now Ram Temple has been inaugurated. Today, I can guarantee that in the next seven days, not just in West Bengal, but the CAA will be implemented across India. The law will be implemented in every state”.

The BJP MP from Bongaon, a constituency dominated by the Matua community, also alleged that despite repeated assurance from the state government, a large number of Matua have been denied voter IDs and Aadhaar cards.

“The chief minister of West Bengal repeatedly said that those who migrated to India after 1971 (Bangladesh liberation war) and have voter IDs and Aadhaar cards are citizens of this country. But there are thousands of people here who have been denied voter ID cards. Is it because they belong to the Matua community and support the BJP? The state government is doing this to suit its political agenda. Those who have come here after 1971 need citizenship to secure their future generations. This is the reason why the Centre has brought CAA. That’s why CAA must be implemented,” he said.

BJP state president Sukanta Majumdar was also present at the public meeting when Thakur made the claims.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah had said in December last year the BJP was committed to the CAA. While addressing a party gathering in West Bengal, Amit Shah said, “Didi (West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee) often misleads our refugee brothers regarding the CAA. Let me make it clear that the CAA is the law of the land and no one can stop it. Everybody is going to get citizenship. This is our party’s commitment”.

Matuas belong to the Scheduled Caste Namasudra community that migrated to India in large numbers, first during the Partition, and then after the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War. Most of the three crore Matuas in West Bengal live in the state’s North 24 Parganas and Nadia districts.

Because of the circumstances under which they migrated to India, many of them never formally received Indian citizenship, making this a long-standing demand of the community. In 2021, the BJP had promised to implement their demand for Indian citizenship if it won the Assembly elections.

The CAA has been in limbo as the Centre is yet to frame its rules amid the Opposition’s strong stand against the law. Soon after Parliament had passed the law in 2019, widespread protests broke out across the country.

The CAA seeks to grant Indian citizenship to Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis, and Christians from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and Pakistan who entered India before December 31, 2014.

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IndiGo CEO says less than 1,000 cancellations on Dec 6; normalcy by Dec 15

News Network

December 5,2025

New Delhi, Dec 5: IndiGo CEO Pieter Elbers issued a public apology this evening after more than a thousand flights were cancelled today, making it the "most severely impacted day" in terms of cancellations. The biggest airline of the country cancelled "more than half" of its daily number of flights on Friday, said Elbers. He also said that even though the crisis will persist on Saturday, the airline anticipates fewer than 1,000 flight cancellations.

"Full normalisation is expected between December 10 and 15, though IndiGo cautions that recovery will take time due to the scale of operations," the IndiGo CEO said.

IndiGo operates around 2,300 domestic and international flights daily.

Pieter Elbers, while apologising for the major inconvenience due to delays and cancellations, said the situation is a result of various causes.

The crisis at IndiGo stems from new regulations that boost pilots' weekly rest requirements by 12 hours to 48 and allow only two night-time landings per week, down from six. IndiGo has attributed the mass cancellations to "misjudgment and planning gaps".

Elbers also listed three lines of action that the airline will adopt to address the issue.

"Firstly, customer communication and addressing your needs, for this, messages have been sent on social media. And just now, a more detailed communication with information, refunds, cancellations and other customer support measures was sent," he said.

The airline has also stepped up its call centre capacity.

"Secondly, due to yesterday's situation, we had customers stranded mostly at the nation's largest airports. Our focus was for all of them to be able to travel today itself, which will be achieved. For this, we also ask customers whose flights are cancelled not to come to the airports as notifications are sent," the CEO said.

"Thirdly, cancellations were made for today to align our crew and planes to be where they need to start tomorrow morning afresh. Earlier measures of the last few days, regrettable, have proven not to be enough, but we have decided today to reboot all our systems and schedules, resulting in the highest numbers of cancellations so far, but imperative for progressive improvements starting from tomorrow," he added.

As airports witnessed chaotic scenes, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) stepped in to grant IndiGo a temporary exemption from stricter night duty rules for pilots. It also allowed substitution of leaves with a weekly rest period.

Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu has said a high-level inquiry will be ordered and accountability will be fixed.

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