BJP to identify refugees in Lok Sabha constituencies
The ruling party has asked all its Lok Sabha MPs to identify the refugees, most of them living in clusters or in slums, in their constituencies and reach out to them. While 303 seats would be covered by its lawmakers, for many of the remaining.
New Delhi: BJP will start a nearly fortnight long drive from Tuesday in several Parliamentary constituencies across the country to identify and approach refugees from neighbouring countries living there and help them get citizenship under the new Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019.
The ruling party has asked all its Lok Sabha MPs to identify the refugees, most of them living in clusters or in slums, in their constituencies and reach out to them. While 303 seats would be covered by its lawmakers, for many of the remaining seats party office-bearers, MLAs and other leaders will be pressed into service.
BJP national secretary Satya Kumar is coordinating this exercise which will also include educating people about the Citizenship Amendment Act and take on the opposition parties which are protesting against it.
“We found that there are several refugees living for years in different parts of the country. In East Delhi constituency represented by Gautam Gambhir, there are roughly 16000 refugees from the neighbouring country.
Similarly, in Koppal Lok Sabha seat in Karnataka, there are an estimated 24,000 refugees,” Kumar told ET. Some of the refugees from Pakistan and Bangladesh are still living in camps.
The drive that will end on December 31 will be focussed on the Lok Sabha constituencies. BJP has also prepared a White Paper on Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019- with a special stress on West Bengal and Assam and the stand taken by various political parties over the years- on the sensitive issue of citizenship to those who came to India from neighbouring countries, especially Pakistan and Bangladesh.
The white paper will be distributed widely and is being translated into regional languages to help convey the message more effectively.
It has a chapter on the Jawaharlal Nehru-Liaquat Ali pact signed in 1950 and how Pakistan flouted this deal by not protecting the rights of minorities living there. Meanwhile, the protests in Jamia Millia Islamia University, Aligarh Muslim University and Nadwa University, Lucknow turning violent has given a handle to BJP to polarise the issue and also play down the atrocities.
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