Journalism of Courage
As protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act grip different parts of the country, the ruling BJP seems to be dialing down its rhetoric on the proposed National Register for Citizens (NRC) — at least, for the time being.
For the record, Prime Minister Narendra Modi accused the Congress of creating an atmosphere of fear over CAA and the BJP has decided to launch a nationwide campaign on “provisions” of the law.
BJP’s national president and Home Minister Amit Shah, who ratcheted up the NRC rhetoric during the Maharashtra and Haryana election campaigns, modulated his tone in Jharkhand — in his rallies in December, Shah mentioned NRC only on December 2 in West Singhbhum.
This, sources said, is because, in the face of widespread protests, the party and the government want to signal that the CAA and the NRC are two separate issues — a recalibration of the earlier strategy to link the two.
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In fact, Shah had clearly said that the “chronology will be that the CAB will be succeeded by NRC.”
But at least two senior leaders in the BJP told The Indian Express Tuesday that the party does not want to be seen as highlighting the issue of NRC for now but wants to keep the focus on “persecuted” non-Muslim refugees from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan.
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There is also a political reason. There is disquiet among the BJP’s allies on NRC. While both the JD (U) and LJP voted in favour of the CAA in Parliament, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar is said to have assured his vice president Prashant Kishore that the NRC exercise will not be implemented in Bihar. Sources said that in a meeting of the LJP too, its leaders extended “wholehearted support” to the CAA but had several questions and fears over the NRC.
While Shah had categorically said that NRC would be brought across the country and would not spare a single infiltrator in his reply to the debate on CAB in the Lok Sabha, he was silent on NRC in his Rajya Sabha speech barely two days later.
“We will bring the NRC across the country. Not a single infiltrator will be spared,” Shah had said in the Lok Sabha. But on November 21 in the Upper House, Shah said: “NRC will be carried out across the country. No one, irrespective of their religion, should be worried. It is just a process to get everyone under NRC.”
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On December 2, addressing an election rally in Jharkhand, Shah said: “The Congress says don’t implement NRC, don’t send infiltrators.We will implement NRC in the entire country and send each and every infiltrator outside the country by the 2024 elections.”
But in his election speeches on December 14 in Giridih, Deoghar and Mahagama and on December 16 in Pakur and Poreyahat, the BJP president did not refer to NRC, according to the text of his speeches on BJP’s official website. In fact, in his speech Monday, he raised the pitch on Ram Temple saying that “within four months, a sky-high Ram temple will be built in Ayodhya.”
On Monday, as protests against the CAA intensified, Shah also tried to allay fears among the minorities. “CAA is to give citizenship to religiously persecuted refugees, its not take away citizenship of any Indian. Some parties are spreading rumours and inciting violence for their political interest. I request students to go through the CAA once and not fall in their trap,” Shah said.
On Tuesday, at a program organised by India Today group, Shah said that no citizen, irrespective of his or her religion will be harassed when the NRC is implemented. “Mein aapko ashwast karta hun ki jab bhi hum naya NRC lekar ayege, yahan ke ek bhi alpsankhyak ke saat anyay nahi hoga. Lekin koi ghuspaithiyan bhi bach nahi payenge (I want to assure you that whenever the NRC exercise is on, no injustice will be done to minority in this country. But no infiltrator will be saved too), “Shah said.
Meanwhile, BJP’s working president J P Nadda has written to all party MPs seeking their participation in a nationwide campaign. Pointing out that “millions of persecuted minorities” from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan will become eligible to become Indian citizens via this law, Nadda wrote: “This is my request to all the Members of Parliament to contact such minorities living in their and in nearby vicinities, to apprise them all about the provisions of this bill, have their conferences…intellectual meetings and public meetings etc.”
His letter makes no reference to the NRC.
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One reason behind this shift could be tactical, sources said. “Anti- CAA mobilisation will not last a long time. Indian Muslims do not want Pakistani Muslims to come to India and settle here,” said BJP general secretary P Muralidhar Rao. Slamming the Opposition for trying to “provoke” protestors, Rao said comparing the protests in Delhi to Jallianwala Bagh massacre — as done by Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray — “is an insult to the martyrs” and to “Indian democracy.”
