JDU MPs defend CAA; Tharoor says India’s soul being divided

NEW DELHI: The second day of the Lok Sabha debate on the motion of thanks to the President’s address saw Nitish Kumar’s JDU, a BJP ally, coming out strongly in support of the Citizenship Amendment Act and rejecting not only the opposition parties’ criticism of CAA but also their apprehension that the CAA would be linked to NRC.

JDU’s unambiguous stand in the Lok Sabha underscored the party’s convergence with BJP’s planks.

JDU’s floor leader Rajiv Ranjan Singh said those who were opposing CAA had been unable to pinpoint any unconstitutional element in it. He questioned the opposition’s objections to NRC, asking why people were vitiating the atmosphere when there was no plan to link CAA to NRC. He also reiterated JDU’s demand for a special package for Bihar and the need for a caste census. Another JDU MP Sunil Kumar Pintu said the Centre had worked to extend “Nitish Kumar’s vision of Jal Jeevan Hariyali (state programme to protect water resources and plants)” to the whole country.


Congress MP Shashi Tharoor questioned the credibility of many claims in the President’s address and dismissed them as mere lip service. Attacking the government over CAA and NRC, he said the ruling dispensation was furthering its divisive agenda. “After the division of the Indian soil in 1947, the government is now dividing the soul of India in 2020,” said Tharoor. Claiming India had the world record on the number of internet shutdowns, he said “the government should rename its scheme Stand-up India to Shut-up India”.

Defending the government on the CAA, BJP’s Dilip Ghosh accused West Bengal government of welcoming “infiltrators” from Bangladesh and opposing the prime minister’s entry into the state. His colleague Locket Chatterjee alleged that people of West Bengal were not being allowed to celebrate Saraswati Puja.