GUWAHATI: Unmindful of the fact that his and his party’s stand is a clear contempt of the ongoing Supreme Curt-monitored process, Assam state BJP president Ranjit Kumar Das condemned the decade long NRC updation in Assam and also defended the amendments to the Citizenship Act, 1955 being proposed by his party that have been accused of being discriminatory and therefore ultra vires of the Indian Constitution.
Kumar said that providing fundamental rights to the minorities of the neighbouring countries (offshoots of undivided India) – who left their respective countries because of religious persecution and are taking refuge in India – has been the BJP’s ideological commitment since its inception.
Talking to the media on November 23, Das said, “Ever since the formation of the BJP from the Bharatiya Jana Sangha in 1980, it has been the ideological commitment of the party to the people of the country to provide fundamental rights to minorities of Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan who had to leave their respective countries because of religious persecution and take refuge in India. Because of such a commitment, the CAB (Citizenship Amendment Bill) is being amended from time to time. We’re not clear as to what form the CAB will be introduced in the Parliament now. We’ll know it only after the introduction of the Bill in the Parliament.”
On the question of the updated NRC, Das said, “We did apprehend inclusion of foreigners into the NRC and exclusion of Indians from it on August 26 this year. Our apprehension came true when the final NRC was published on August 31, 2019. Like us, many parties and organizations objected to such anomalies in the NRC. It’s certain that each and every person of the State wants a correct NRC. And as such, for the sake of a correct NRC if the NRC is updated twice, where lies room for opposition to it?”
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