Nitish Kumar's 'missing' posters come up in Patna, over CM's silence on CAA & NRC

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's photos were found on 'missing' posters in the state capital, suggesting the JD(U) chief's absolute silence on the amended Citizenship Act and National Register of Citizens (NRC). The 'Lapata' (missing) posters propped up all across Patna. The posters purportedly come in view of Nitish Kumar's support for the contentious Bill. 

Nitish Kumar's party had enabled the smooth passage of the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill in both the Houses.  JD(U) has 16 seats in the Lok Sabha, and 6 in the Rajya Sabha. JD(U) national vice president Prashant Kishor had publically expressed his disapproval of the party's backing to the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill. Later, it confirmed that the party, though backs Citizenship Act, is against the NRC. 

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Prashant Kishor, the chief campaign strategist of the JD(U) on Friday had said that while the Citizenship Amendment Act had passed by the Parliament, it was now upon the state CMs to clarify their stance. Accentuating the stance of chief minister's against the Act, he added that all other CMs should clarify their stance alluding to Nitish Kumar. Captain Amarinder Singh, Kamal Nath, Mamata Banerjee, Pinrayi Vijayan, and Bhupesh Baghel the chief ministers of Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal, Kerala, and Chhattisgarh respectively have withdrawn their support for the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill. The chief ministers of the five states have already refused the implementation of the Bill. 

However, since the passage of the Bill, Nitish Kumar has refrained from commenting over the Act, which has now instigated nation-wide protests. The national capital witnessed violent clashes on Sunday between the Jamia Millia University students and Delhi Police over the contentious Citizenship Act. Amid the protests, many students were injured, and buses were set ablaze.  Reports of protests erupted from across the nation including--Moulana Azad National Urdu University in Hyderabad, Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) in Uttar Pradesh. Internet services have been snapped in six districts of Uttar Pradesh including --Aligarh, Meerut, Saharanpur, and Varanasi.  Over concerns of marginalisation of minorities, protests were seen across the length and breadths of the country--from Delhi to Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Lucknow, and even Mumbai. 

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Opposition Protest

Earlier, Opposition parties including Congress, CPI(M), Samajwadi Party (SP) and others condemned the alleged police "brutality" against students of Jamia and demanded a judicial inquiry into it. "How could the police enter Jamia and unleash such brutality on the students when the university authorities did not allow the police to enter it," Azad asked. At a press conference, Congress leaders Azad and Kapil Sibal, CPI(M) leader Sitaram Yechury, CPI's D Raja, RJD's Manoj Jha, SP's Javed Ali Khan, and Sharad Yadav condemned Sunday's police action against Jamia students.

Azad also rejected the charges leveled by Prime Minister Narendra Modi that the Congress was behind the violent protests. "It is wrong to make such accusations and we condemn it," he said. Yechury demanded a probe by a Supreme Court judge in the incident. "Whoever gave the permission to allow the police to enter the Jamia campus should be brought to book and punished," he said. He said it was not a Hindu-Muslim issue and asked people not to fall prey to rumours as the act was an affront to the Constitution.

"It is the ruling party and Government of India which are behind the violence. Had the government not brought in this law, there would not have been such violence. It is the prime minister, home minister and the Cabinet who are responsible for this violence" he alleged. Raja said that those who gave the orders for police entry in Jamia should be bought to book. 

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(with PTI inputs)