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BJP fulfils key promise ahead of 2024 polls; Modi chairs poll panel meet
Ahead of the 2019 national polls, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) promised the Citizenship (Amendment) Act implementation
For long the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) faced barbs about its promise to construct the Ram Temple in Ayodhya while being unable to specify the date to fulfil the pledge. Since the 1990s, the commitment to build the temple was included in the party’s manifesto. To cock a snook at the BJP, its opponents would say: “...tareek nahi bataye gay [they would not specify the date]” in response to the party’s slogan “mandir wahi banayenge [the temple will be constructed there]”.
A similar taunt related to the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA), which was passed in Parliament in December 2019 and got the President’s nod the next day. But the notification of the rules for CAA’s implementation was hanging fire. BJP leaders, including the Union home minister Amit Shah who piloted the law, were questioned relentlessly about the rules that would set the stage for fast-tracking citizenship for persecuted minorities from the neighbouring countries.
With the notification of the CAA rules on Monday, the BJP has fulfilled another ideological promise. In 2019, the party promised the CAA implementation in its election manifesto.
The notification of the rules came ahead of the announcement of the Lok Sabha polls. The Opposition has questioned the timing of the move.
The BJP is hopeful of benefitting from the move, hoping to win the support of groups such as the Matuas in West Bengal, and the hundreds of Hindu refugees from Pakistan.
The party also hopes the move will consolidate its position among the dedicated vote bank for pitching India as the mother country for Hindus. The idea of a homeland for the Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, and Buddhists much like the holy land for the Jews and the Muslims is an idea that has been fostered by the party’s ideological fount, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh.
To be sure CAA also allows citizenship rights for Parsis and Christians who came to India before December 31, 2014.
Second list
Modi, meanwhile, chaired the BJP’s Central Election Committee meeting late on Monday evening to finalise the party’s second list of Lok Sabha candidates. Candidates such as Hema Malini, 75, were included in the BJP’s first list of 195 candidates from 16 states. Old timers such as Jagdish Shettar from Karnataka are also now hopeful of getting tickets. In 2014, the party decided against giving tickets and positions in the government to those above 75 for a generational shift.
