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Would 5-time chief minister Parkash Singh Badal have to prove his citizenship under NRC? The fight is on.


Image result for pics of protest against caa nrc

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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