BJP to send 30,000 volunteers to West Bengal to dispel misinformation about CAA
The initiative will start from January next year, where the volunteers will go to every household, and explain the law to the people in the state. As part of the 'Jan Jagran Abhiyan' (awareness campaign), the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has appointed 30,000 volunteers to go to West Bengal to spread awareness, dispel rumours about the Citizenship law. The initiative will start from January next year, where the volunteers will go to every household, and explain the law to the people in the state. The decision was taken after a meeting with BJP's working President JP Nadda. On Friday, a meeting will be held with BJP's women wing on the issue. Earlier, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Minister Amit Shah assured the Muslims of this country that the CAA and the NRC will not affect them, after widespread protests in the country on the CAA-NRC combo which culminated in violent clashes between the police and the protestors. Targeting the opposition for "spreading false information" over National Register of Citizens (NRC), Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday said some leaders were wasting their energy in something that is not even there. Speaking at a rally in Delhi's Ram Lila Maidan, Modi said that the Congress and urban Naxals are spreading lies regarding detention centres. "The Congress, its allies, educated Naxalites living in the cities - urban naxals - are spreading rumours that all Muslims will be sent to detention centres. They should value their education. Once read, what is the Citizenship Amendment Act and NRC," Modi said.
"Rumours of detention centres being spread by Congress and urban naxals is a lie. This is a lie, a lie, a lie," he said. He said there has been no discussion on NRC anywhere and this exercise was done for Assam only after a Supreme Court order. "I want to tell the 130 crore citizens of India that since my government has come to power, since 2014, there has been no discussion on NRC anywhere. Only after the Supreme Court's order, this exercise was done for Assam," he said. However, Home Minister Amit Shah who had said in the Parliament during a discussion on Citizenship Amendment Bill that NRC process will be undertaken in the entire country. Shah has repeated the commitment to hold a nationwide NRC several times. The controversial law promises citizenship to "illegal immigrants" belonging to minority communities from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh who fled religious persecution in the three countries. While critics say that the law is against the secular nature of the Indian Constitution and clubbed with the NRC may be misused to strip away some Muslims' citizenship in the country. The BJP, however, has argued that the law has nothing to do with India's Muslims and only helps those who fled religious persecution in the neighbouring countries.