In a major embarrassment for the opposition and especially those who have been vocal in criticising the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, it has been reported that some of the protestors who had stripped naked in opposition to the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016 have now joined the BJP. The protestors who have joined the BJP include Assam Scheduled Caste Yuva Parishad leader, Jadav Das and members of the students’ wing of Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti. They had led the protest against the Amendment Bill. Das, a prominent leader of the protests has stated that they had been provoked to strip naked by those who “have openly supported the Congress”. This statement by Das must have taken the Congress and its “supporters” by surprise. Without taking names, he has clearly exposed those who had orchestrated the misinformation campaign against the Amendment Bill.
The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill seeks to aid persecuted Hindus in India’s neighbouring countries. The Modi government has rightfully stepped in and decided to grant a citizenship status to the minorities from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan. The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill not only grants them relief from persecution but also provides them the respect they deserve, which the neighbouring countries have not provided them with, unfortunately. At a time, when the Hindu minority in our neighbouring countries are facing persecution, it becomes a humanitarian concern and India is under a moral obligation to step in.
However, the Bill created a furore among the pseudo-seculars. The pseudo-seculars and the left-liberal intelligentsia of the country started a misinformation campaign against the Bill. Rumours about the negative effect of the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill in the North-east region of the country and especially in Assam were being spread blatantly.
It was recently reported that the organizations from the northeast like All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF), the the All Assam Minority Students’ Union (AAMSU) and some other Islamist bodies had protested against the bill. The central intelligence agencies suspected that these organisations are also funding protests by others against the bill. Swarajya had quoted a senior Intelligence Bureau (IB) officer as saying, “We found that most of these posts emanated from Pakistan and Bangladesh. The twitter handles from which the misinformation (about the bill) was being spread were being operated from Pakistan. Hundreds of fake Facebook accounts created over the last one month and operated from computers with their URLs located in Pakistan and even in the Middle East were being used to spread rumours about the bill”. The officer further added, “The contents of these posts would be shared by some Twitter handles and Facebook users widely within the (northeast) region and then repeated by leaders of bodies representing the indigenous people of the region. They would then gain wide circulation.” Some tweets from Pakistan based Twitter handles had claimed that once the Bill is cleared, more than 1.5 crore Bangladeshi Hindus would come to North East and get Indian citizenship.
The fact that misinformation was being spread in the North-east region about the Bill and that it was based entirely upon rumours has been corroborated by the manner in which some of the protesters who were at the frontline of the criticism of the Bill have now joined the BJP. In the month of February, PM Modi had dispelled all rumours which were being spread about the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill. He had said, “36 years have passed Assam accord has not been implemented yet and only Modi-led government would fulfil this.” PM Modi’s address seems to have effectively countered the negative propaganda against the Amendment Bill. It is clear that those who were spreading misinformation about the Bill have not been able to sustain their lies for long and now they must prepare themselves for a strong electoral punishment even as the country goes to the Lok Sabha polls.