Why not include Muslims: BJP's CK Bose raises questions on CAA

Hours after BJP working president Jagat Prakash Nadda took out a march in Kolkata in support of the newly-enacted Citizenship law, the party's West Bengal vice president Chandra Kumar Bose has raised his voice against the Act and said India is a country "open to all religions and communities".

"If #CAA2019 is not related to any religion why are we stating - Hindu, Sikh, Boudha, Christians, Parsis & Jains only! Why not include #Muslims as well? Let's be transparent," Bose tweeted.

"Don't equate India or compare it with any other nation - as it's a nation Open to all religions and communities," he said in another tweet.

The comment by Bose, a grandnephew of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, has come even as BJP has launched a massive public awareness campaign on social media and through its cadres to reach out to the Muslim community and dispel their doubts on the issue.

Earlier, BJP-ally Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) had demanded that Muslims should also be included in the CAA in sync with the democratic and secular principles of the country.

The Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019, grants citizenship to Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Parsis, Buddhists and Christians fleeing religious persecution from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh and came to India on or before December 31, 2014.