Would 5-time chief minister Parkash Singh Badal have to prove his citizenship under NRC? The fight is on.
Chandigarh: On a day the divisive political discourse pushed
by the Bharatiya Janata Party hit the roadblock in Jharkhand, India witnessed
the consolidation of secular mobilisation against the citizenship act and
national register of citizens.
Even allies of the BJP, JD(U) and some others have
repositioned themselves asserting their opposition to NRC. It is the Shiromani
Akali Dal that otherwise was rooted in secular tradition of universal brotherhood
that continues to fumble. Not only that. Some of the Sanghi Akali leaders,
especially in Delhi, are functioning as megaphone of the BJP issuing statements
that from all accounts are anti-Muslim.
The charisma of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and management
skills of Home Minister Amit Shah seems to have failed the BJP in Jharkhand
with the party having tasted defeat. The trend that was triggered with the
recent Assembly elections in Maharashtra and Haryana has consolidated in
Jharkhand. It is the Congress-JMM alliance that has pushed out the BJP from
power.
Amit Shah’s promise during the last phases of the campaign
to build sky high Ram temple in Ayodhya where Babri Masjid stood at one time
just could not sustain the BJP. It is apparent the same card can’t be played repeatedly.
The economy continues to be on the downward trend but the
ruling party at the centre had been trying to engage the people in issues in
the citizenship bill and the NRC. Attention can’t be diverted from the real
issues when the onion price has touched the highest ever of Rs 200 per kg in
several parts of the country.
It is a lesson for the entire ruling elite in India. The
issues concerning the lives of the people directly have to be prioritised. The Mandir-Masjid
politics can wait, rather such issues should be buried for ever.
Narendra Modi at a rally tried to allay the apprehensions of
the people on issues like NRC but what he said has come to be questioned at the
empirical level. He denied the existence of detention centres but the record is
to the contrary.
He contradicted the position of his party on NRC as
articulated repeatedly by his cabinet colleagues Amit Shah and Rajnath Singh
and BJP acting president J P Nadda. Whom should the people believe? It is
crisis of credibility now.
Opposition is getting consolidated on CAA-NRC with even
allies of the BJP barring the Akali Dal taking a clear position.
Some of the Akali leaders are functioning as mouthpiece of
the BJP on this issue despite strong opposition from the Sikhs in general. The
Akali Dal seems to be further getting alienated in Punjab. The Akali leaders in
Delhi have already turned Sanghi. It may be mentioned that the Akali Dal had
always stood by minorities till Parkash Singh Badal took over as president and
shed its Panthic credentials over time, the transformation that was intensified
when his son Sukhgbir Singh Badal succeeded him.
The basic issue is: Would 5-time chief minister Parkash
Singh Badal have to prove his citizenship in case NRC is implemented? This is
the question that should be answered by Sukhbir Singh Badal in his capacity as
the Akali Dal president.
The Congress that seemed to be dithering to taking strong position
in this fight today drew the line by staging dharna at Rajghat led by Sonia
Gandhi and attended by former prime minister Dr Manmohan Singh, Rahul Gandhi,
Priyanka Gandhi and other senior leaders.
This is a fight in which none can stay neutral. And should
not.
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