After being sworn in for the second time as the Prime Minister, Narendra Modi has taken a few phenomenal decisions, out of which the passage of CAA is also one. But as the opposition continues to spread confusion and lies, it certainly becomes more onerous on the part of the government while implementing it.
Bengaluru: Ever since Narendra Modi came back to power for the second term in May much to the astonishment and miscalculation of the opposition there is an uneasy calm.
That too when the numbers are considerably surprising to these parties. The new government with a renewed mandate and also having lost some of the senior experienced leaders in Parliament Viz: Arun Jaitley, Sushma Swaraj and HN Ananth Kumar due to their premature death; Also, some others like L K Advani, Dr Murali Manohar Joshi, Sumitra Mahajan were denied ticket due to a new policy that BJP has adopted on age bar is aggressive and combative.
With renewed vigour and bringing Amit Shah as home minister with a new cabinet; government conveyed that they have come to stay and complete the tasks promised in the manifesto. One after another bold policy decisions like removal of Article 370; Triple Talaq were taken up and successfully passed.
They did it coolly with precision and total preparedness. Notwithstanding that Farooq Abdullah, Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti among others spewing venom and also threatening unrest and violence in the valley.
But this didn't in any way deter the government. It has stunned the nation and everybody as to the way it was brought about. Then the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2019 (CAB) was introduced by the home minister on the floor of the Parliament of India on 9 December 2019, in response to the exclusion of 1.9 million people, predominantly Hindus in the National Register of Citizens for Assam. The Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 (CAA) was passed by the Parliament of India within 2 days, on 11 December.
After a marathon debate in both houses, ironically it went on till midnight as if we were debating independence! But this time around; the government has stirred up an issue that has become quite complicated.
Home Minister Amit Shah not only responded to all queries but also quoted extensively on the stand taken by Congress and their leaders and how Mamata Banerjee had declared on floor of Parliament. In view of the fact that from Mahatma Gandhi to Manmohan Singh, everyone has earlier spoken strongly in favour of this Act.
Also, Congress with resolutions that were quoted passed in their internal committee, also Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot written statement to that effect. Parliamentary standing Committee in 2003 in which several tall leaders of the Congress were part of it and have advocated including Kapil Sibal who has been extremely vocal and a strong votary for this Act.
But power is such a magnet that politicians are hungry and don't care for all their statements. All opposition parties have found a converging issue that too politically convenient to them.
They had achieved mastery in Muslim appeasement for decades which lost the sheen as the community moved away from their repeated commitments. Lack of education amongst Muslims is well known.
So, with this complex subject it was easy to stoke confusion and fear in them. It also suited their narrative of painting BJP-led NDA government as anti-Muslims in the face of new laws and coincidentally the Ayodhya Verdict in the Supreme Court.
Even during the last term and right before the elections; the Northeastern States were cut up and angry with BJP especially in Assam where confusion was confounded with the local NRC issue.
The Citizenship Amendment Act 2019 made 2014 as the cut-off date to determine illegal foreigners but according to people opposing the act, Assam bore the brunt of immigrants from 1951 to 1971, while other states did not.
The protesters were angry that the new law would allow thousands of Bengali-speaking non-Muslim immigrants from Bangladesh to become legal citizens of India, thereby influencing the political and cultural environment of Assam.
Thousands of members and workers of All Assam Students Union (AASU) and 30 other local organizations, artists, cultural activists of the state had gathered at Latasil ground in the capital city of Assam to stage Satyagraha against the Act.
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