Bengal: BJP to focus on citizenship Bill to counter TMC’s anti-NRC stance

The fact that many Bengali Hindus in Assam did not figure in NRC has left many in the community disconcerted about a similar programme in Bengal.

As part of the BJP’s outreach effort, sources said, leaders of both the party and the RSS would assert that any move on NRC would come only after the Citizenship Amendment Bill, which the party asserts will ensure smooth flow of Hindu refugees from neighbouring countries, if passed in Parliament.

Both BJP and RSS have stepped up ground-level activities in the Durga Puja season — the festivities start with Maha Shashti on October 4 — and appointed four leaders, including an MP and MLA, in each district to take care of party activities.

Top Sangh and BJP leaders are also visiting the state frequently. While RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat has already visited Bengal to discuss activities of the organisation in the first week of September, he is expected to be in the state again this weekend. BJP national president and Home Minister Amit Shah is scheduled to visit the state on October 1 and is likely to inaugurate Pujas in Kolkata.

The party’s working president, J P Nadda, is expected to be in Kolkata next week, on September 27 and 28, the latter being the day of Mahalaya, which marks the beginning of the annual Puja season. Nadda is scheduled to offer tarpan (offering water to God) in the name of BJP workers killed in political violence in the state over the last few years, according to reports from Kolkata.

Party general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya is already stationed in Bengal to oversee preparations and has been crisscrossing the state.

According to a BJP source, thrust of the party’s campaign would be that the BJP-led Union government would ensure that the Citizenship Amendment Bill is passed before any NRC exercise is undertaken in West Bengal.

The Bill seeks to change the definition of illegal migrants and is meant to amend the Citizenship Act, 1955, to provide citizenship to illegal migrants from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan, who are of Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi or Christian extraction.

Party leaders said while the Sangh’s students’ wing will try to spread awareness among students, the women’s wing will “create awareness on NRC” and the Yuva Morcha, the youth wing, will canvas among professionals and English-speaking youth.

“The youth wing’s focus will not only be on reaching out to professionals and the youth, but also to create a talent pool for the party ahead of the next Assembly elections (scheduled for 2021),” said Animesh Biswas, one of the coordinators of the ‘Save Bengal’ campaign. “We will approach every professional college, including the IIT and IIM.”