New Delhi: After the Narendra Modi-led BJP government launched a campaign to dispel misinformation about the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), its ideological parent, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), has also started a movement to counter opposition to the contentious legislation.
The outfit has reached out to young professionals, including doctors and engineers, house-makers and students as part of its outreach initiative. RSS functionaries have been holding meetings of 10 to 15 participants to eliminate apprehensions or doubts about the amended Citizenship Act.
At the end of these meetings, people are given copies of a two-page pamphlet called “Aaiye Jaane – CAA (Let’s understand CAA)”, which are to be distributed among friends and family members.
“All kind of rumours are being spread in the name of CAA. It is also taking political overtones. We are simply trying to create awareness about it… that it will not affect any Indian citizen following any religion. At the same time, we are informing people that it is for the welfare of those minorities who are facing persecution in countries like Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan,” said an RSS functionary, who did not wish to be named.
The pamphlet states that there have been attempts to create misunderstanding by linking CAA to the National Register of Citizens (NRC). “CAA is only linked to the persecuted minorities of the three nations,” it reads.
Protests have erupted across the nation against the amended Act which seeks to give Indian citizenship to non-Muslim minorities from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh. Hundreds have been detained and several people, including an eight-year-old boy, died during violence that broke out during these agitations.
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Door-to-door campaign
The pamphlet also says that ‘misinformation’ about CAA — claims that people from the three neighbouring nations will come to India in large numbers — were being spread.
“This is nothing but misinformation. CAA will be applicable on all those migrants who have been living in India before 31 December 2014,” said the RSS functionary quoted above.
Another senior RSS functionary also said that door-to-door meetings were being conducted in districts where violence had broken out during the protests. “The idea is to ensure that people know what exactly is this Act…and not pay heed to rumours.”
Reiterating that the Act should not be considered a “BJP or RSS issue”, members of the outfit also said how Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, Sardar Patel, B.R. Ambedkar, Ram Manohar Lohia, Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi and even Manmohan Singh had stressed on the need to protect minorities in the three neighbouring countries.
‘CAA a major victory for persecuted minorities’
While a number of anti-CAA protests were spearheaded by student agitators, the pamphlet also states that a “fake narrative” was created to link the Citizenship Act to pupils and universities.
It further tells that Muslims have not been included in CAA because Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan are Islamic nations. The idea, said the RSS functionary quoted above, was to tell people that CAA is a “major victory for those persecuted in the three nations”.
“They had no option but to flee and take shelter in India. It is this which we are trying to communicate at the grass-roots level,” the functionary added.
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