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Yogi will tour several cities to blunt oppn to citizenship law
The Bharatiya Janata Party has tasked chief minister Yogi Adityanath to tour several cities in the country to remove, what BJP calls, ‘misinterpretations’ of the
The Bharatiya Janata Party has tasked chief minister Yogi Adityanath to tour several cities in the country to remove, what BJP calls, ‘misinterpretations’ of the new citizenship law that has polarised political as well as people’s opinions.
On Saturday Yogi travelled to Gwalior in Madhya Pradesh, a Congress-ruled state, and was scheduled to visit Gaya, Bihar, a state where BJP shares power with Nitish Kumar’s JD (U), on January 14 to address public meetings on the new law.
After that, Yogi’s office has lined up series of public meetings in UP beginning with Varanasi (January 18), Gorakhpur (January 19), Lucknow (January 20), Kanpur (January 21), Meerut (January 22) and Agra (January 23).
BJP leaders said if required more states could be added in Yogi’s itinerary.
The places listed in Yogi’s schedule include either opposition-ruled states or centres in UP which witnessed maximum protest and violence, like Kanpur.
The state government had cracked down on such protestors, who had allegedly engaged in violence and were identified on camera, by making them pay damages for the loss to government and private property.
Chief ministers of other BJP-ruled states like Haryana CM Manohar Lal Khattar, too, have been roped in as part of the campaign to spread awareness on the new law which minority affairs minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, presently touring UP, has said won’t be rolled back or amended.
Khattar would participate in a padyatra (foot march) in Saharanpur in support of the citizenship law.
Naqvi’s statement shows firming up of BJP’s resolve to continue with the citizenship law that has come under massive attack from major opposition parties across the country and which has also seen youths from several universities rise in protest.
“The Yogi is trampling democracy by stopping peaceful protests against the citizenship law. They have got the police to impose Section 144 and are using it to stop protests,” says Heera Lal Yadav, CPI (M), UP, secretary.
While Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi has been very active of late, touring the state to meet those injured in police action during protests against citizenship law, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, who is also opposing the law, has said that Samajwadi Party cadre won’t fill up details for National Population Register (NPR) that BJP government has introduced.
BSP chief Mayawati, too, has opposed it saying that the government should have a re-think.
The opposition’s principal charge against the new law is that it discriminates on the basis of religion, in violation of the spirit contained in Article 14 of the Constitution.
The BJP’s counter to the charge is that the new law is about giving citizenship rights to persecuted minorities of Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanisatan and isn’t about taking any Indian’s citizenship.
The BJP’s ideological fountainhead, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and outfits backed by RSS like Muslim Rashtriya Manch are holding small and big meetings to drum up support on the subject. The outreach campaign is also on social media with several facebook and Whatsapp groups spreading the message that largely blames opposition parties for instigating violence and triggering protests against the new law.
