New Delhi:
Accusing opposition parties of “stoking fear” among Muslims over the amended citizenship law, the BJP on Tuesday described their memorandum to the president to express concern over the tense situation in parts of country as “ironical and farcical”.
BJP spokesperson G V L Narasimha Rao said the Congress, Trinamool Congress and the Left had once pushed for Indian citizenship for persecuted minorities from countries like Pakistan and Bangladesh but, he added, they have changed their stand to corner the BJP following the Modi government’s decision to this effect.
“They (opposition) are guilty of double-speak and hypocrisy. The BJP has maintained a consistent stand and fulfilled its long-standing commitment through an act passed by Parliament,” he said.
Leaders of opposition parties on Tuesday knocked on the doors of President Ram Nath Kovind, urging him to intervene on the issue of violence in central universities and advise the Modi government to withdraw the “unconstitutional and divisive” law.
Hitting back, Rao said, “This is ironical and farcical that same political parties which are cynically prorogating lies and trying to stoke fear in the mind of Muslim community are approaching the President of India by pretending that they are concerned about the situation.”
The BJP MP said there was a pattern to the opposition’s campaign against the Modi government since it came to power in 2014, as he referred to the “bogey of intolerance”, “award wapsi” or communal clashes in states like Gujarat and Haryana.
Each of these campaigns had political overtones, and the opposition “failed” and was “exposed” before people, he claimed.
The present campaign against the citizenship law is another such exercise, Rao said, adding that it is aimed at “consolidating a vote bank”.
It was curious that former prime minister Manmohan Singh and CPI(M) leader Prakash Karat were missing from the opposition delegation which met Kovind, he said, adding that both leaders had once voiced their support for giving citizenship to persecuted minorities from these countries.
