BJP to launch toll-free number to garner support for CAA

As part of the BJP's programme to mobilise support for the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, party president Amit Shah is likely to launch a toll-free number for people to give missed calls to register their endorsement of the law ahead of its 10-day mass contact drive from January 5.

BJP general secretary Anil Jain told PTI that the toll-free number is expected to be released on Friday so that people can register their support for the CAA, which seeks to grant citizenship to minorities from three neighbouring countries who arrived in India by Dec 31, 2014, due to religious persecution.

Shah will also visit a household on Sunday, most likely in the national capital, to lead the party's 10-day campaign during which its leaders and workers will contact, the party has said, three crore families to rally support for the CAA.

All leading faces of the party, ranging from Union ministers to organisational leaders, will be travelling to various parts of the country during January 5-15 for the drive, Jain said.

People will be urged to take to social media to voice their support for the law during the campaign, he said.

Party leaders have already been holding public meetings and press conferences over the issue as they work to counter the opposition's campaign against the new citizenship law.

Accusing the Congress and other opposition parties of carrying out a "misinformation" drive to mislead people about the Act, Jain said the CAA is all about giving citizenship to persecuted minorities from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan. It has nothing to do with any Indian citizen, he added.