The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Friday announced that it will be launching a mega door-to-door campaign in favour of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) across the country on January 5, with all senior leaders, including Union Home Minister Amit Shah and party working president J. P. Nadda pitching in. The campaign is expected to reach out to 3 crore families in ten days.
Day 1
Mr. Shah will kick off the campaign in New Delhi while Mr. Nadda will visit a household in Ghaziabad. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh will be in Lucknow, Roads and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari in Nagpur and Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in Jaipur, on the first day of the campaign, BJP general secretary Anil Jain said while addressing a press conference at the party headquarters in New Delhi.
Mr. Jain said Indian Muslims had no reason to worry over any citizenship exercise, be it the NPR (National Population Register) or the NRC (National Register of Citizens), and asserted that India’s only religion is its Constitution. There have been widespread protests across the country opposing the CAA and the NRC.
Mr. Jain said a nationwide consultation will be held whenever a decision on rolling out the NRC, which is a part of the party’s manifesto, is taken, but noted that there is no such proposal now.
Asked about concerns among Muslims over a raft of citizenship measures, he said, “As the BJP’s national general secretary, I can say with full responsibility that no Indian Muslim can have any danger from whatever measures come into place, be it NPR or NRC.”
“The Constitution will take care of their concerns. India has only one religion, which is its Constitution,” Mr. Jain said.
‘Fears stoked’
He also accused Opposition parties of misleading minorities by stoking their fears and concerns “for political reasons”. The Congress and the BJP’s other rivals are inciting “rebellion and anarchy” in the country due to their politics of appeasement, he alleged.
Persecuted minorities from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh, who are the intended beneficiaries of the Act, have been victims of atrocities in their countries, he said, adding that those opposing it have shown extreme insensitivity.
People will be urged to extend their support to the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) by posting social media messages and photographs, Mr. Jain said.
