Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday led the BJP’s outreach campaign with the hashtag #IndiaSupportsCAA to gather support for the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), which has sparked violent protests across India in recent weeks. Modi’s official website tweeted that the CAA “is about giving citizenship to persecuted refugees and not about taking anyone’s citizenship away”.
Seeking to mobilise support for the amended citizenship law, other BJP leaders too launched the campaign on social media to highlight its features with Modi posting a video of spiritual guru Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev backing the legislation.
Amid protests, including from Muslims in several parts of the country, the prime minister has asserted that the law is about giving citizenship to refugees from three countries and not about taking away anyone’s citizenship. BJP has announced a 10-day campaign across the country to spread awareness about the CAA and taken on the opposition for pushing “rumours and fears” around it.
“Do hear this lucid explanation of aspects relating to CAA and more by Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev. He provides historical context, brilliantly highlights our culture of brotherhood. He also calls out the misinformation by vested interest groups. #IndiaSupportsCAA,” Modi tweeted.
The Twitter handle of Modi’s personal website also had a message saying that the CAA is about giving citizenship to persecuted refugees and not about taking anyone’s citizenship away. The message was posted with the hashtag “India Supports CAA”.
It also asked people to share content, graphics and videos from the prime minister’s NaMo app to show their support for the law, which has triggered protests in different parts of the country.
BJP president and Home Minister Amit Shah also posed Sadhguru’s video and said “stop believing lies and half truths on CAA”. He urged everyone, especially the youth, to watch the video and get a “historical perspective on why we need CAA”.
Joining the campaign, party’s working president JP Nadda quoted from the spiritual leader’s remarks to say that “in a very calibrated way somebody sent the message to the minorities that your citizenship is under threat which is an absolute lie”.
Opposition and other critics slammed the CAA, saying it is against India’s secular Constitution as it makes religion as a ground for citizenship. The BJP has asserted that it is meant for minorities persecuted in three neighbouring countries due to their faith.
Union minister Prakash Javadekar took on the critics, who have dubbed the law as discriminatory, and tweeted, “Spread Facts Not Myth: In the last 6 years, 2830 Pakistani, 912 Afghani & 172 Bangladeshi citizens have been given Indian citizenship. Many of them are from majority community of these countries.”
He also posted several tweets, highlighting key aspects of the amended law and quoted Modi’s comments that it will not adversely affect any Indian citizen.
