BJP's Chandra Kumar Bose contradicts party on CAA; calls for "transparency"

BJP's West Bengal vice president Chandra Kumar Bose on Tuesday has raised his voice against the Citizenship Amendment Act. Taking to Twitter, Bose said that India is a country "open to all religions and communities". This statement of Bose comes hours after BJP working president Jagat Prakash Nadda took out a march in Kolkata in support of the newly-enacted Citizenship law.

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The comment by Bose, a grandnephew of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, has come even as BJP has launched a massive public awareness campaign on social media and through its cadres to reach out to the Muslim community and dispel their doubts on the issue. Earlier, BJP-ally Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) had demanded that Muslims should also be included in the CAA in sync with the democratic and secular principles of the country.

READ | CK Bose At BJP's Kolkata Rally: 'We Are Conveying A Message That CAA Is Not Anti-people'

Earlier Bose also appealed to the Central government to hear out the side of the opposition over CAA and NRC.

READ | West Bengal: BJP Chief JP Nadda Leads Massive Pro-CAA Rally In Kolkata

Pro-CAA Rally by Nadda

As the TMC government led by Mamata Banerjee has been vehemently protesting against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 and NRC, BJP working President JP Nadda and party General Secretary in-charge of West Bengal, Kailash Vijayvargiya lead a rally in Kolkata in support of the CAA on Monday. During his rally, Nadda accused Mamata Banerjee of doing vote bank politics.

Speaking to the media Nadda said, "The huge crowd here shows people are in support of the Citizenship Amendment Act. West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee is just doing vote-bank politics by opposing the Act. She should see huge support for Act and understand that people have rejected vote-bank politics." 

The Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019, grants citizenship to Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Parsis, Buddhists and Christians fleeing religious persecution from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh and came to India on or before December 31, 2014.

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(with ANI inputs)