Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Sunday arrived in the city on a day-long visit, as opposition parties protested against the Citizenship Amendment Act and raised ‘Go Back’ slogans outside the airport.
Mr. Shah was greeted by the West Bengal BJP leadership, led by State party president Dilip Ghosh.
He launched the BJP’s ‘Aar Noi Annay’ (no more atrocity) campaign in the State.
Hundreds of protesters of the Left Front and Congress, holding black flags and anti-CAA posters, demonstrated outside gate number 1 of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International Airport.
Police had put up a barricade to prevent them from crossing over to the entrance of the airport.
Mr. Shah addressed a rally at the Shaheed Minar Ground, where the State BJP felicitated him for the passage of the amended citizenship law in Parliament. BJP national president J.P. Nadda also attended the public meeting.
Mr. Shah said the country has zero tolerance towards terrorism and has developed a “proactive” defence policy under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Mr. Shah also said that India has now joined the league of countries like the U.S. and Israel in carrying out surgical strikes.
“Now, after Modiji became the PM, we have developed a proactive defence policy segregated from the foreign policy,” he said in Rajarhat, while inaugurating a new building of the National Security Guards (NSG). "We are working on a policy to enable jawans to stay with their families for at least 100 days in a year," he said.
The Home Minister was scheduled to hold closed-door meetings with the State BJP leadership along with Mr. Nadda.
Mr. Shah will also visit the Kalighat Temple in south Kolkata.