250 press meetings, rally in every district: BJP’s plan to blunt CAA criticism

The BJP on Saturday announced a mass contact program over the amended citizenship law as the party geared up to mobilize support for the contentious legislation amid widespread protests against it.

Party general secretary Bhupender Yadav told reporters that the BJP, within the next 10 days, will contact more than three crore families, organize a rally in every district and hold over 250 press conferences across the country to expose opposition parties’ “lies” and inform masses about the new law.

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The announcement came following a meeting chaired by BJP working president J P Nadda. It was attended by the party’s national office bearers and some organizational leaders from states. Nadda told party leaders that they should work to expose the “conspiracy” of the Congress, Trinamool Congress and the Left among others to push their politics of “violence and hate”.

Congress is doing politics of “ appeasement” over the issue and its language is the same as that of Pakistan, he alleged. Yadav accused opposition parties, especially the Congress, of “disturbing” peace in the country and spreading confusion over the law, and asserted that the legislation has infused a new sense of hope and security among minorities of three countries living in India without citizenship for decades. The amended law, termed divisive and discriminatory by the opposition for making religion a ground for citizenship, seeks to give citizenship to minorities from three neighboring countries who arrived in India before December 2014 due to religious persecution.

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The ongoing protests have claimed several lives as many believe that the law in conjunction with the NRC will discriminate against Muslim citizens, a charge rejected by the government. “Some opposition parties, especially Congress is indulging in politics of lies and rumors. The opposition is causing a disturbance in the country with their lies and rumors. We will expose them and bring out the truth,” Yadav said.

He said the party will also involve beneficiaries of the amended law in its information campaign about the statute.

Asked about the charge that the National Register for Citizens (NRC) discriminates against Muslims, Yadav said it was a “complete lie”.

“It is a complete lie being spread by the Congress. We will expose it by communicating with people. We will have press conferences on the issue in more than 250 places in the country and we will end the politics of lies,” he said.

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He also reminded the Congress that Pakistani Hindus who had been living in Gujarat and Rajasthan were granted Indian citizenship when it was in power. Former prime minister Manmohan Singh had also spoken in support of minorities from Bangladesh, he said, asking the Congress if it will seek a response from its senior leader. Asked about the issue of NRC, Yadav said it is an administrative issue. “There should be no confusion about it. It is about registering Indian citizens,” he said.

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