BJP to dispel CAB fear through talks

SHILLONG: BJP national secretary Rahul Sinha on Monday said the party will talk to various groups to dispel the doubts about the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill (CAB) and added that Chief Minister Conrad Sangma and the state BJP leaders are confused over the bill.
Speaking to reporters at the BJP office in the city on Monday, Sinha said the party will talk to the opposing groups as wrong information is being circulated about the intention of the government.
“Some groups are misleading the people, some conspiracy on CAB is going on to mislead people and some outside forces are also working on it”, Sinha said.
According to the BJP leader, the intention of the government is to spread love and brotherhood among the people by bringing the CAB.
“If we look at the humanitarian angle, the bill will build a human chain of love and friendship”, he said.
The bill seeks to provide Indian citizenship to Hindus, Jains, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists and Parsis from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan after six years of residence in India, instead of current provision of 11 years.
The BJP leader said some people and organisations for their selfish motives are misleading people.
“CAB is the victim of conspiracy. The bill will neither hamper anyone nor it will ever differentiate people”, he said.
According to the BJP leader, the party will create public awareness among all sections of people on the merits of the bill.
“Party believes that no matter how much negative publicity is done, at last the BJP will succeed in making public aware about the benefits of the bill”, he said.
When asked about the opposition of state BJP especially the letter written by the BJP state general secretary Bashailang Khongwir to exempt Meghalaya and the rest of the Northeast from the purview of the bill, the BJP central leader said the state BJP leaders are also confused over the bill.
“In some areas, there is some confusion spread about the bill, and some people within BJP are also confused over communication gap, but when we will explain the entire matter, this confusion will be removed”, he said.
He said the communication gap will be removed by talks and by spreading awareness.
When asked about Chief Minister Conrad Sangma, who is opposing the bill, Sinha said all are confused.
“There is confusion in some quarters. Some of the BJP workers also became victim of this confusion and we will make them aware of the true spirit of the bill, he said.
The BJP leader admitted that there was hurry in moving the bill due to time constraints.
After the Lok Sabha polls, we will talk about the bill and clear the doubts.
He also said there is no threat to the coalition government in the state over the issue of CAB.