Giving a new twist to its Hindutva agenda, the Bharatiya Janata Party has advocated that Hindus coming to India from neighbouring countries should be given Indian citizenship while intruders who have illegally stayed back should be thrown out of the country.
Addressing the concluding session of the party’s state working committee meeting here on Sunday, BJP national president Amit Shah said that Hindus, Sikhs, Parsis, Jains, Buddhists and those of any other sect living in neighbouring countries like Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan should be given Indian citizenship because they were integral part of Bharat.
In his almost 45-minute speech, Shah said that Hindus from those countries should be first given a refugee status and then the citizenship of India.
In the same breath, Shah said that intruders should be thrown out of the country.
“Every citizen of the country has a right to know who is Indian citizen and who is intruder. The Central government has identified over 40 lakh such people in Assam and they would be thrown out of the country. An attempt is being made to give a safe haven to intruders in West Bengal. I have given a stern warning to (Bengal Chief Minister) Mamata Banerjee in my public rally in Kolkata on Saturday. She should stop patronising intruders only because their number increases her vote bank,” Shah said.
Giving a pep talk to party workers, the BJP president said that there were talks about ‘mahagathbandhan’ in Uttar Pradesh but this should not worry the party. “We have a strong army of 1.80 crore workers. It is not difficult to manage booth with this dedicated team. If our party leaders and workers make their presence felt at the booth level, the battle will be won,” he said and added,” Our target should be to get 51 per cent vote share. This will automatically translate into 73+ seats in UP which is our target. Once we achieve this target, there will be no impact of SP-BSP alliance.”
Shah added that earlier also, the SP and BSP had joined hands yet the BJP had got more seats than these parties.
“Moreover, why to worry and what for? We have leaders like Narendra Modi and Yogi Adityanath under whose leadership both Central and UP governments have implemented policies for the welfare of masses. Schemes like Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana, Jan Dhan Yojana, Ujjwala and Saubhagya schemes have benefited poor and Dalits. Go to the village level and educate people about these schemes and the BJP policies,” Shah said.
The BJP national president lauded Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, saying that in a short span, the UP government had improved law and order, particularly in western UP from where exodus had stopped.
“Industries are coming back to UP as the government is providing the best possible infrastructure as well as security,” he pointed out.
Shah said that the creation of Backward Commission was a big plus for the party.
“Narendra Modi has now emerged as a hero. Congress always talks about Dalits and backwards but it has done nothing for the deprived section in its almost 55 years rule. Parties like the SP, BSP and Congress are no match to the BJP because our agenda is development while theirs is promoting caste and personal interests,” Shah said.
