NPR, CAA, NRC a package to create rift between Hindus,

Dubbing the new citizenship law, the proposed National Register of Citizens and NPR a "package" aimed at creating "a rift between Hindus and Muslims", CPI(M) leader Sitaram Yechury on Friday accused the BJP of indulging in "dirty" politics to consolidate its vote bank.

Addressing a rally organised by the CPI(M) to protest against the new citizenship law, Yechury claimed that the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) has been trying to change the secular democratic republic into a Hindu Rashtra for several decades.

In a video posted on the BJP website, Union Home Minister Amit Shah had explained that people should "understand the chronology. The National Population Register will come first, on this basis of which the NRC will be prepared and the non-Muslims whose names will not figure in the NRC will be given citizenship under the Citizenship Amendment Act", Yechury said.

However, the video was later withdrawn, he said.

"This package of the NPR, NRC and the CAA has been brought by the BJP to create a rift between Hindus and Muslims, leading to tension, an atmosphere of fear and violence to polarise the nation communally," the CPI(M) general secretary said.

Shah, also the BJP president, had assured the Muslims not to worry but what was left unsaid was that they would be thrown out, he claimed.

"The BJP is deliberately indulging in communal polarisation and dirty politics with the intention of Hindutva vote bank consolidation. This is dangerous for both the present and the future of the country," Yechury said.

The genesis of this 'project' can be traced to the pre-Independence era when Hindu Mahasabha's Veer Savarkar had first raised the two-nation theory of a Hindu Rashtra and an Islamic Republic, he said.

"It was exactly one year later that M A Jinnah also raised the demand for a separate Islamic state which ultimately happened with Independence. The Congress and the Left organisations were insistent that independent India's character will be a secular democratic republic which ultimately was adopted," Yechury said.

After independence, the RSS sought a Hindu Rashtra on the ground that an Islamic country has been created, but its demand was rejected, the Left leader said.

"This angered them and its first victim was Mahatma Gandhi. For the past several decades, they are trying to change this republic into a Hindu Rashtra. They will take oath as ministers on the Constitution but will go on to violate it in their quest to make India a Hindu Rashtra," he said.

Yechury said the amended Citizenship Act talks about according Indian citizenship to refugees who are victims of religious persecution, but it leaves out Tamils from Sri Lanka, Rohingyas from Myanmar and Ahmadiyyas from Pakistan.

"Each religion has a holy book. But for all citizens of this country there is only one book - the Indian Constitution. If that book is violated, we as true patriots will raise our voice against the CAA. Where in the Constitution is it written that citizenship will be connected to religion?" the CPI(M) general secretary said.

"Our constitution begins with Hum log - We, the People. The Hum in Hindi stands for Hindus - Hu - and Muslim - M. The BJP wants to violate this principle and we will not allow this conspiracy to succeed," Yechury said.

The CPI(M) had supported the NRC in Assam as it was part of the Assam Accord with the cut-off date of March 24, 1971, he said adding that the situation in the state is very different from the rest of the country.

Floods wash away homes in states like Bihar and Assam forcing people to move to new areas, Yechury said. "How can they produce resident certificates? Now D-voters will be created across the country as in Assam."