Amit Shah's statement on Article 371 exposes double standards of BJP, says D Raja

Communist Party of India (Marxist) General Secretary D Raja on Monday said that Home Minister Amit Shah's statement that Centre will not touch Article 371 shows the 'double standards' of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

"It shows double standards of the BJP government and it also exposes their sinister agenda. People now know why they have done it in Jammu-Kashmir and why Shah is defending other temporary and transitory provisions of the constitution," he said.

"When it came to article 370, Amit Shah said that it was a temporary provision and the same thing applies to Article 371 also. There are many states covered by these provisions so why to target Kashmir at this point of time?" Raja added.

Senior CPI (M) leader further accused the Union Home Minister of appeasing the Northeast in the backdrop of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) issue.

"After the NRC, the whole Northeast is in turmoil and he (Amit Shah) wants to please them. All this exposes how BJP is trying to push through its sinister design to implement its own agenda across the country," said D Raja.

D Raja also appealed the government to form consensus and take political parties in confidence over the NRC issue.

"Government should take political parties into confidence not only in Assam but outside the country because it is going to have far-reaching implications. There is already a problem in Bengal and it can cause problems in other parts of the country as well," he said.

The NRC has been implemented in Assam. It is the list of Indian citizens in Assam being updated to throw out illegal immigrants from Bangladesh and neighbouring countries. It was first prepared in 1951 following the census of 1951.