‘Why Muslims can’t be included like others in the new citizenship law’, asks West Bengal BJP V-P Chandra Kumar Bose

“Divisive politics will not have any way in West Bengal. We are giving (TMC chief and Chief Minister) Mamata Banerjee a golden chance to come back again in 2021... I follow Netaji’s ideology, "Chandra Kumar Bose said.

Row Over CAA Divisive politics to help TMC, state BJP V-P warns his party

Chandra Kumar Bose

Amid nationwide protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA), West Bengal BJP vice-president Chandra Kumar Bose has questioned his party’s logic behind not including Muslims in the new law. He also said that divisive politics would benefit Trinamool Congress (TMC) in the 2021 Assembly elections in the state.

Speaking against the party line on the new citizenship law, Bose, who is also the grandnephew of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, asked why Muslims have been excluded if the CAA is not related to any religion. “If #CAA2019 is not related to any religion why are we stating — Hindu, Sikh, Boudha, Christians, Parsis & Jains only! Why not include #Muslims as well? Let’s be transparent… If Muslims are not being persecuted in their home country they would not come so there’s no harm in including them. However, this is not entirely true — what about Baluchs who live in Pakistan & Afghanistan? What about Ahwadiyya in Pakistan?” Bose tweeted.

According to the new law, members of Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi and Christian communities who have come from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan till December 31, 2014, facing religious persecution, will be granted Indian citizenship.

“Divisive politics will not have any way in West Bengal. We are giving (TMC chief and Chief Minister) Mamata Banerjee a golden chance to come back again in 2021… I follow Netaji’s ideology. For me, nation and Netaji comes first, then the party. If I am asked to not follow Netaji’s policy of united India, I will happily say thank you and bid bye. Our Prime Minister (Narendra Modi) has always said “sabka sath sabka vikas” and if we are not doing so then we are not following him,” he told The Indian Express, elaborating on his earlier tweet: “A party which would follow the inclusive ideology of #NetajiSubhasChandraBose representing all communities & work for the upliftment of all strata of society would win Bengal in 2021 Assembly elections. The rest would be irrelevant.”

He also asked his party to not compare India with any other nation, referring to Pakistan. “Don’t equate India or compare it with any other nation as it’s a nation open to all religions and communities,” he said.

Bose also said that without the state governments’ support, it would be tough to implement the new law everywhere.

Notably, Trinamool Congress government of West Bengal is among several non-BJP states to announce that they would not allow the Act to be implemented in their states. “I have just suggested modification so that the entire nation supports it,” he tweeted.

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He said it must be clarified that the law is not based on religion. “Muslims are an integral part of our nation, you cannot exclude them. They (BJP) could have simply said minorities, who have been persecuted, will be given citizenship, but once you mention a few religions, you have to mention Muslims as well,” Bose said.

This is not the first time that Bose has questioned his party, especially its Bengal unit. After the recent Assembly bypolls in Bengal, where the BJP lost all the three seats to the ruling TMC, Bose had attributed the defeat to the party making the proposed nationwide NRC its primary poll plank.

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