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This story is from July 21, 2021

CAA, NRC being linked to religion for political mileage: Bhagwat

CAA, NRC being linked to religion for political mileage: Bhagwat
GUWAHATI: CAA and NRC are neither anti-Hindu nor anti-Muslim, but they have been linked to religion only to gain political mileage, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat said here on Wednesday.
"CAA and NRC have not been framed against any Indian citizen. An Indian citizen, who is a Muslim, won't be a loser because of CAA," Bhagwat said. "In post-independence history, during the Nehru-Liaquat pact, there was an assurance that minorities would be taken care of.
We are still taking care of the minorities, but Pakistan is not," he added.
Bhagwat went back to the Partition in search of the roots of the refugee problem, which still haunts the country. "Indians fought together against the British to achieve the goal of a free India. But Partition happened and people's mandate was not taken before dividing the country. The leaders decided and the people accepted," he noted.
Bhagwat said India is still facing the brunt as victims of Partition are still being ousted from their land. "Who will think about those whose settlements are being encroached upon for accepting the Partition without opposing the leaders? Who will think about them?" he asked, calling it a moral responsibility to shelter the refugees.
Bhagwat said India must think about the persecuted population in Pakistan. "During disasters, we offer aid to people in our neighbours, who won't even come to India. How can we leave out the persecuted," he said, advocating for CAA.
Bhagwat said every government in the world documents the profile of its citizens through NRC-like exercises. "NRC is about information about the citizens living in the country as residents. We should know the movement of those who have arrived with visas as guests and those who sneaked out without permission," Bhagwat said.

He said though the NRC is not against any Indian, the citizenship document is being analyzed in the backdrop of politics because the government has to execute the task. "When the NRC issue goes to the political domain, it will only be discussed to get political mileage," the RSS chief said.
He blamed another section, who would see the narrative on communal lines. "They have made the NRC-CAA a Hindu-Muslim issue. But citizens should be aware as they have the correction tool, which they use every five years," Bhagwat said.
He also took a dig at critics, saying that secularism has been in the blood of Indians for 5,000 years and the Constitution is secular because those who framed it lived in secular India. "India accepted diversity in culture, food and lifestyle. We don't need to learn secularism, socialism and democracy from the world. It's our tradition, it’s in our blood," he said.
Bhagwat said since 1930 there has been a planned attempt to increase the Muslim population. "No terror was unleashed on Muslims to come here and increase the population. Neither was there an economic issue behind their population growth.
It was a well-planned design that with increasing population they would establish their hegemony and it would become Pakistan one day," Bhagwat said, alleging that the idea was for Punjab, Sindh, Assam and Bengal.
To some extent, he said, the plan succeeded by dividing India but it failed to take away Assam and got half of Bengal and Punjab. "They wanted a corridor through the middle of India but could not succeed," he said.
Speaking on the occasion, chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said that in the Indian democracy, which has the reputation of being the largest in the world with democratic tenets deeply ingrained in it, has the scope of airing one’s alternative voice.
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About the Author
Kangkan Kalita

Kangkan Kalita is a reporter with The Times of India and covers issues on health, education, stories of human interest while keeping a close watch on political developments and student movements. Reporting on environment and forest related issues and concerns of the northeast interest him equally.

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