Facing opposition onslaught against Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA), National Population Register (NPR) and National Register of Citizens (NRC), the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party in Uttar Pradesh has gone on the offensive, taking the bull by horns.
The BJP has planned six big rallies, one each in the six mandals of the party, this month to clear doubts over the CAA and mobilise support for it.
The first such rally was held at Sampurnanand Sanskrit University sports ground in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s constituency Varanasi on Saturday and it was addressed by Union minister Smriti Irani along with Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, his deputy Keshav Prasad Maurya and BJP state chief Swatantra Dev Singh.
The ruling party has already launched a door-to-door campaign to spread awareness among the people about CAA and to dispel misinformation and confusion.
In each rally, the BJP is expecting a crowd of over one lakh and senior national leaders are expected to attend them.
On Sunday, a similar rally will be held at Maharana Pratap Inter College grounds in Gorakhpur where Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and BJP state chief Swatantra Dev Singh will be the main speakers.
However, the biggest rally will be held in Lucknow on January 21, where BJP chief and Union Home Minister Amit Shah will be the main speaker along with UP’s chief minister, deputy chief minister and other leaders.
On January 22, there will be two rallies, one in Kanpur and the other in Meerut. The Kanpur rally will be held at commercial ground where Union minister Narendra Singh Tomar along with the chief minister and other ministers will address the gathering. In Meerut, the rally will be held at Madhokunj Shatabdi Nagar where Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and BJP state chief Swatantra Dev Singh will be the chief speakers.
The last rally will be held at Kothi Meena Bazaar grounds in Agra on January 23, where BJP national working president JP Nadda and Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath along with other senior leaders will address the gathering.
Besides the pro-CAA rallies, Yogi Adityanath is also slated to join the Ganga Yatra from January 27 for five days along with other UP ministers and BJP leaders.