Bengaluru: A video put out by BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra allegedly contains a chant “Jinnah-waali Azadi” during protests at Shaheen Bagh, near New Delhi. The protests have been going on for weeks together now. 

However, the video and audio quality of the clip is poor. 

 

The protests have been taking place against the Citizenship Amendment Act passed by both houses of the Indian Parliament. 

The Act aims to provide citizenship to persecuted non-Muslim minorities in the countries of Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh who have been in India hitherto December 31, 2014. 
But the opposition parties have been trying to smear it with communal colour and are spreading falsehoods saying the Act discriminates against Indian Muslims. 

But in reality, the Act is not discriminatory but only a one-time package for persecuted sections to integrate with Indian on an emotional and social basis. 

They are many detractors who say that the Act violates article 14 of the Indian Constitution which forbids segregation based on religion and assures equality before law. 

But senior lawyers like Harish Salve and BJP MP Subramanian Swamy have held that the article applies only to equals and not unequals, and therefore the very question of violating it becomes redundant. 

Interestingly, as many as 60 petitioners have filed a case in the Supreme Court challenging the constitutionality of the law. The top court will continue hearing the case on January 22. 

The chief justice of India Arvind Bobde has appealed for peace in the entire country before a detailed hearing can be taken up. 

What is also surprising is how the BJP is being targeted for its endeavour to have a compendium of Indian citizens, which has not been in place since 1947. 

The BJP had also made it clear in its 2019 poll manifesto about the CAA and the abrogation of articles 370 and 35A.