Most of refugees are 'SC brothers': Nadda on CAA

Addressing a meeting in memory of the late former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, BJP working president Jagat Prakash Nadda on Sunday made a strong defence of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and linked it with the welfare of Scheduled Castes.

“The Congress and its allies shed crocodile tears in the name of Dalits but they did nothing for the welfare of Dalit refugees,” he said while addressing an event organised by Prajapati Rajnitik Manch.

He said that among those from Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains and Christians prosecuted in Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan, the majority are "Dalit brothers" including people from Matua, Rajvanshi and Namashudra communities.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi while addressing a rally in Ramlila ground last week, had condemned those parties doing politics in the name of Scheduled Castes and asked why they never raised the issue of Scheduled Castes facing persecution in those countries.

Flagging that most of the people who have come from Pakistan are Scheduled Castes, who are forced to convert through forcible marriages because their faith is different, he had said, “I want to ask those who claim to do Dalit politics why you were silent for so many years.”

Modi also asked them why they are now upset when his government is working to address the sufferings of those Scheduled Castes.

The BJP’s attempt to take the issue beyond the Hindu-Muslim ambit comes after a number of Scheduled Caste organisations have lent their support to the anti-CAA protests across the country.

While Bhim Army chief Chandrashekhar Azad 'Ravan', recently joined the anti-CAA protests at Jama Masjid in Delhi, NDA ally Lok Janshkati Party, which espouses Scheduled Caste politics, rued that its demand for a through consultation with allies before bringing the bill was not heeded and the continuing violent protests prove that the government has “failed” to convince people on this count.

Attempts to forge a Scheduled Caste-Muslim axis around the protest is the last thing the ruling combine would like to see shaping up.

Hailing Modi government’s decisions like abrogation of Article 370 from Jammu and Kashmir, the bill to abolish triple talaq and the passage of CAA, Nadda trained guns on the Congress accusing it of accepting partition in the name of religion in 1947.

Asking people to go and personally see the condition in refugee camps where such people are living, Nadda also trained guns on Arvind Kejriwal government of Delhi saying they talked of giving Wi-Fi but failed to give electricity and water to the residents of refugee camps.

Reeling out figures to hammer home the point that minorities were persecuted in the three countries, Nadda said that the number of Hindus in Pakistan and Bangladesh came down to just 7% and 3% respectively, prompting the government to bring CAA to give citizenship to those who faced persecution there and came to India.