New Delhi: Concerned by the global ramifications of the new Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), the BJP is mobilising the support of the Indian diaspora in several countries, urging them to organise outreach programmes including “Pro-CAA protests”.
According to a senior BJP leader, the party has managed to organise around 14-15 such protests across the world, including at New York, Atlanta, Chicago, Montreal, London, Stockholm, Perth, Sydney and Melbourne, among others.
A number of protests are likely to be organised in Washington, Germany and other European countries in the next few days.
“Domestically, we have been able to manage the protests after the law was passed. It is definitely going to benefit us politically in the country,” the senior BJP leader said.
“But it has proved to be a difficult task and a challenge internationally. The domestic politics of the countries are also affecting how they view CAA. In a number of these countries, the Muslim population constitutes a big number and hence they can’t afford to ignore them and are criticising the law.”
The protests are being carried out with the support of the local Indian communities.
“In the protests, emphasis is being put on the fact that it (CAA) is not anti-Muslim and is in fact meant for persecuted minorities of the three countries,” the BJP leader said.
“Some informal meetings are also taking place where we are also giving out clarifications that persecuted Ahmadiyyas, for instance, will be given shelter in the country but they have to follow a different route.”
The BJP has also come up with a brochure on Hindus allegedly persecuted in Pakistan’s Sindh province, which is being circulated in India as well as in a number of countries.
Protests continue unabated
Over the past month, demonstrations against the controversial legislation — which promises citizenship to Hindus, Sikhs, Christians, Parsis, Buddhists and Jains of Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh — have spread to all parts of the country.
To counter the protests, the BJP has launched a ‘Jan Jagran’ (public awareness) campaign to contact three crore families.
But even as a number of states have demanded that the Act be scrapped, Home Minister Amit Shah reiterated the government’s stance that it would not go back on this issue even if all the opposition parties come together.
Also read: BJP gets a reason to cheer CAA in Bengal — thanks to Bangladesh
The only practical outcome – a fear one has often expressed – is that some members of the diaspora are visibly undermining their loyalty to their adopted countries. The sum total of their exertions will be less than one critical edit in the NYT. We are bring a very provincial, municipal approach to a global stage.
How can one protest FOR something? The dictionary says that a protest is “a statement or action expressing disapproval of or objection to something”. One cannot have objection FOR something. Another absurdity of the BJP.