Chandra Kumar Bose, the grandnephew of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose and the Vice President of the Bengal BJP has said that the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) has left the Muslims to feel alienated in the country and that the “Modi government’s catch line Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas would remain uncherished unless the Muslim community is included in the process,” adding to say that Muslims should be given mainstream education, enabled and equipped with knowledge which is beyond madrasa education, reported the Mumbai Mirror.
“Had Netaji and Mahatma Gandhi been alive, they would not have supported CAA,” Bose told Mumbai Mirror. “Gandhi was personally unhappy with the partition and he had mentioned that ‘persecuted persons’ should be given Indian citizenship. But Gandhi never mentioned about any religion while the CAA clearly mentions Sikh, Parsi, Christian and Hindu communities. He never attached names of any religious community. So was Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru and Mohd Ali Jinnah. Jinnah was so secular that he always emphasized on Hindu-Muslim brotherhood and unity. In CAA, if minorities in neighbouring countries are to be considered, Balochis are also persecuted in Pakistan’s Balochistan. Why should they not get citizenship through CAA in India?” he added.
He told eNewsroom, “Netaji was a spiritual person, his spiritual guru was Swami Vivekananda. He was a staunch Hindu, but never used religious symbols for political purposes. He always believed in being an Indian, which is above every religion. Even Mahatma Gandhi believed in giving shelter to persecuted people from both East and West Pakistan.”
“It’s good to identify illegal immigrants, but that should not be on religious lines and in the process of such finding, several legal citizens even from the minority community will be homeless. Muslims have always been a marginalized community. Muslims also have the right to stay here, as India has always been secular country. Even minorities have voted for the BJP to come back to power and this gesture should be respected,” the Bengal BJP vice-president told eNewsroom.
Criticizing the CAA he said, “The politics of polarisation will ruin India. Polarisation will only lead to communal division in India and the CAA will work as a catalyst to the whole process. India is an inclusive and secular country but there is an attempt to divide the country on religious grounds.” He also called the widespread student protests against the CAA a “warning bell”, mentioning that student protests were spontaneous and not initiated by any student unions.
Referring to Modi as an “inclusive secular leader” he said that Modi must control the hot heads of the party and also said that the “saffron camp should respond to the common people”.
Though Bose has been vocal about his view on the party’s stand on the CAA, he says he has no plans of leaving the BJP and will do so only if the Prime Minister asks him to do so.
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