Chandra Kumar Bose, one of the BJP's top leaders in West Bengal posted tweets questioning the Citizenship Amendment Act hours after a huge BJP march on the streets of Kolkata in support of the controversial act.
India is a country "open to all religions andcommunities", asserted Bose, a grand-nephew of Netaji Subhash ChandraBose.
Bose in a Tweet said, "If #CAA2019 is not related to any religion why are we stating – Hindu, Sikh, Boudha, Christians, Parsis & Jains only! Why not include #Muslims as well? Let's be transparent."
In another tweet, Bose said, "Don't equate India or compare it with any other nation – as it's a nation Open to all religions and communities."
The note of dissent comes as the BJP goes all out in a massive public awareness campaign on social media and through its cadres to reach out to the Muslim community and defend the law.
The BJP's march in Kolkata, led by working presidentJP Nadda in an open jeep, was meant as a "thanksgiving rally" for thecitizenship law, which, the party hopes, will have a huge bearing in Bengal aslakhs of refugees, mainly Bengali Hindus from Bangladesh, can get citizenship.
There have been massive protests across the country over the Citizenship (Amendment) Act that, for the first time, makes religion the test of citizenship in India. The law aims at helping minorities from the Muslim-dominated countries of Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh to get citizenship if they fled to India because of religious persecution. Critics say it is designed to discriminate against Muslims and violates the secular principles of the constitution.
