BJP plans more interactions like the one with Bollywood celebrities on CAA

Interactions like the one Union minister Piyush Goyal had with Bollywood celebrities in Mumbai will continue as part a broader outreach campaign the BJP plans to carry out to educate all segments of the society about the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), party sources said on Tuesday.

They said that as many as 70 Bollywood personalities attended the meeting with BJP leaders, including Goyal, on Sunday and the interaction lasted for three hours.

Bhushan Kumar, Prasoon Joshi, Anu Malik, Kailash Kher, Shaan, Kunal Kohli, Ranvir Shorey, Ritesh Sidhwani, Rajkumar Santoshi, Suresh Wadekar and Neeraj Shridhar were among those present in the meeting.

"More such meetings with a cross section of society, not just the film industry, will be conducted on the issue," a source said.

The BJP has launched a series of outreach programmes, including meetings with different groups and door-to-door campaign, to mobilise support for the CAA.

The objective of the campaign is to counter the Opposition's drive against the law and inform people about its features amid countrywide protests.

According to the Act, people from Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi and Christian communities who have come to India till December 31, 2014, from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan due to religious persecution there will be given Indian citizenship.