Home Minister Amit Shah to kick off BJP’s national CAA drive from Rajsthan today

NEW DELHI: Union Home Minister and BJP president Amit Shah will kick-off his party's national outreach programme to counter the opposition's '' misleading'' campaign against the Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019 from Rajasthan's Jodhpur on Friday.

The Home Minister will address a public rally in Jodhpur as part of the party's fresh attempt to reach out to the masses and address their concerns about the Citizenship (Amendment) Act that has triggered protests across the country. Shah will also launch a toll-free number for people to give missed calls to register their support for the CAA. 

Similarly, BJP’s working president, J P Nadda will be in Goa on Friday to address a rally on the issue. 

These rallies will be the first in a series of 30 that the BJP leaders will hold across the country to address the concerns and underline that the CAA cannot be conflated with the National Register of Citizens (NRC) and the National Population Register (NPR). The CAA was passed in Parliament’s last month to fast-track citizenship for non-Muslims, who have entered India from Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Bangladesh, before 2015. 

Opponents of the CAA say the law is unconstitutional because it links faith to citizenship in a secular country and is discriminatory because it leaves out the Muslims. 

Several non-BJP-ruled states have opposed the legislation. Critics say the CAA, if combined with a pan-India NRC, could result in the expulsion or detention of Muslims unable to provide the documentation required for the exercise.

Allaying fears about CAA, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has recently insisted there have been no discussions on a nationwide NRC in Parliament or in the Union Cabinet, but the Opposition has pointed out that Shah has advocated it. 

The BJP announced outreach campaigns to clear perceptions about the legislation in the wake of the protests. The BJP’s ideological mentor, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, too, has begun a similar exercise to reach out to people, who have concerns about the CAA, the NRC, and the NPR.

The saffron party also appointed state in-charges to lead the party's outreach programme to counter opposition's campaign against Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019. BJP leader Hemant Biswa Sharma and Rahul Sinha have been entrusted to lead the party's CAA outreach campaign in West Bengal, Jharkhand, Odisha and Northeast, while Anil Jain will do the same in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.

For Madhya Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Delhi and Chattisgarh, Avinash Rai has been handed over the task of presenting and promoting the party's viewpoint on the amended citizenship law. Saroj Pandey has been tasked to coordinate in Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Goa and Daman and Diu, while Suresh Bhatt has been asked to lead the programme in Haryana, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Chandigarh and J&K.

Party leader Ravindra Raju will lead the initiative in the southern states like Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Telengana, Kerala, Karnataka and Puducherry.

Amidst the massive protest Citizenship Amendment Act across the country, the ruling BJP has also decided to hold a public campaign to aware people regarding the new Citizenship Amendment Act. The campaign will start from January 5 and continue till January 15. 

The BJP government has set a target to reach around three crore families in the awareness campaign. Its parent outfit - the RSS - is likely to join BJP in this awareness campaign. The government is further targeting to get the support of nearly one crore people in support of the Citizenship Amendment Act. 

To fulfil their target, BJP has formed different public relation groups to connect with people belonging to a different section of people including Buddhist, Dalits and minorities. BJP's top brass including party president Amit Shah, executive president JP Nadda along with other 50 leaders will hold big events in several cities to promote the campaign. 

The party is also considering to hold a big rally at the end of the entire public awareness campaign.

Earlier, the party had 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. Several videos were also uploaded in BJP's official Twitter handle which explained the Citizenship Amendment Act and said that the Muslims should stop worrying as the new act would not affect them in any way. 

The BJP's clarification has been necessitated after a slew of protests broke out across the country, a few of which also witnessed violence. The CAA and NRC have become emotive issues among the Muslim community triggering widespread protests across the country.