Aaj Ki Baat October 1 episode
Home Minister and BJP president Amit Shah on Tuesday, addressing a convention of party workers in Kolkata, made it quite clear that not a single Bengali Hindu will be deported. Shah said the government will soon enact the Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB) before enforcing the National Register of Citizens (NRC).
Shah said: "CAB will precede NRC, so refugees need not worry". The CAB guarantees citizenship to all non-Muslim refugees who have come to India from neighbouring countries. The Modi government tried to pass the bill in Parliament during its first term, but could not.
Shah said, "people of Bengal are being misled about NRC. The Modi government will not drive out a single refugee. I assure all Hindu, Buddhist, Sikh, Jain refugees they won't have to leave the country, they will get Indian citizenship and enjoy all the rights of an Indian national."
The Home Minister said, "Bengali Hindus are being harassed in the name of NRC, and I have come here to clear the confusion. Mamata Banerjee's contention that Hindu refugees will also be driven out is absolutely false. No Bengali Hindu refugee will have to leave India."
The Home Minister however said that the government will not allow "even a single infiltrator to stay in India." Amit Shah's comments come in the wake of reports of thousands of refugees, both Hindu and Muslim, lining up outside government offices in Bengal to get birth certificates and ration cards to prove their domicile. Rumours are being spread that refugees who had come from Bangladesh (erstwhile East Pakistan) will have to prove their domicile during the NRC drive.
Amit Shah also assured Bengali Hindus that they would be given full liberty to celebrate Durga Puja, Ram Navami, Janmashtami, Hanuman Jayanti and other festivals. The Mamata Banerjee government had issued restrictions on some of these festivals during recent years.
Amit Shah has made his intentions quite clear. He has not minced words in saying that the minorities appeasement policy being followed by Mamata Banerjee government will be discontinued if the BJP comes to power in Bengal. To Amit Shah goes the credit of changing the political lexicon in most of the states of India, and he has conveyed the message to Hindus of Bengal in clear words: there shall be no appeasement of minorities.
Over last several decades, most of the political parties in Bengal have been following appeasement policy in order to garner the Muslim vote bank. By winning 18 Lok Sabha seats from West Bengal, Amit Shah has proved that elections can be won in the state without appeasing minorities' vote banks. Mamata Banerjee is now worried because she is gradually losing the support of the Bengali 'bhadralok' (middle class) Hindus in her own state.
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Aaj Ki Baat: Monday to Friday, 9 PM
India’s Number One and the most followed Super Prime Time News Show ‘Aaj Ki Baat – Rajat Sharma Ke Saath’ was launched just before the 2014 General Elections. Since its inception, the show is redefining India’s super-prime time and is numerically far ahead of its contemporaries.
