The Bharatiya Janata Party’s defeat in recent three assembly bypolls in West Bengal is attributed mainly to its strident polarizing campaign on the issue of National Register of Citizens, according to sources in the party.
The three assembly seats, which was being considered as a litmus test for Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress, and the BJP ahead of the fresh state assembly elections in 2021, have put the saffron party BJP on a sticky wicket. The state’s ruling Trinamool Congress on Thursday bagged all the three assembly seats — Kaliaganj, Kharagpur Sadar and Karimpur — where bypolls were held on November 25.
Mamata called her party’s bypolls victory as a mandate against the NRC and Trinamool leaders said their counter campaign against the implementation of NRC paid off because there are apprehensions among Hindus and Muslim immigrants of the state about NRC.
The Trinamool activists celebrated their party’s good show in the bye-elections particularly because it won Kaliaganj and Kharagpur for the first time, wresting them from the BJP and the Congress. By contrast, the state BJP headquarters in central Kolkata wore a deserted look.
Many state BJP leaders felt the Trinamool Congress had effectively flagged the issue of NRC spreading fear among the people cutting across their religious identities about their future. That affected the BJP’s prospects adversely in the elections by sparking a consolidation of anti-BJP votes.
BJP’s Kaliaganj candidate Kamal Chandra Sarkar said “we have lost despite having a massive lead in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. There has been serious confusion over the implementation of NRC in Bengal. We have failed to take people into confidence. The issue has played an important role as my constituency has a sizeable percentage of Rajbongshi voters who had supported us in the Lok Sabha polls just six months ago but shifted their loyalty to the Trinamool Congress in the by-elections.”
The exclusion of a large number of Hindus from the NRC in adjacent Assam has put the BJP on the defensive since August 31 and become an issue of concern for the saffron party whose leaders repeatedly promised to carry out the exercise in Bengal as well, if voted to power in 2021.
“The NRC issue definitely has played a role here. We couldn’t completely clear the confusion that was injected into the minds of the voters over the issue. The Trinamool Congress went door to door to misguide people over NRC implementation and that did affect us,” said BJP candidate from Karimpur seat, Jay Prakash Majumdar.
BJP state vice-president Chandra Kumar Bose suggested his party should work out state-specific plan as a pan-India NRC plan would not go down well in West Bengal, “the land of Vivekananda and Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose.”
He said the NRC should not have figured in the BJP’s bypoll campaign as people were keen to discuss economic issues and know whether industries will come up in West Bengal and enough jobs would be created.
“The BJP’s malicious plans to impose NRC in the state, which will turn citizens into refugees, didn’t go well with people. Here, people have understood that TMC is the only party that focuses on overall development in the state,” a Trinamool leader said.
Even as the NRC continued to give headaches for the BJP in West Bengal, Indian Home Minister Amit Shah began a series of meetings with stakeholders from Northeastern states on the Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB) which seeks to give citizenship to religious minorities from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan. The Bill is likely to be tabled in the ongoing winter session of parliament.
It remains to be seen if the Indian government exempts the Northeast states, where there is mounting opposition to the CAB and where there is the Inner Line Permit (ILP) system regulating the entry of “outsiders,” from the CAB. Exemption of such regions in Northeast states which come under the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution is also under consideration.
If exemption is granted, it would virtually mean that Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland and Mizoram may be kept out of the purview of CAB, as well as certain autonomously administered regions in Assam and other areas like Bodo Territorial District Area.
Raising the CAB issue during Zero Hour in Lok Sabha on Thursday, BJP lawmaker R K Ranjan Singh from Manipur had said “I would like to draw the attention of the Government of India to the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill that is going to be placed in this winter session. It is also reliably learnt that some safeguards are likely to be given to Northeastern states. However, a few days ago, it was brought out in media that an exemption from this citizenship law will be given only to those states where the Inner Line Permit system is enforced. That means the law will not be applied in the states of Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh and Mizoram.”
Singh said the CAB was causing a lot of discomfort Manipur. “Other Northeastern states like Manipur shall come under the purview of this new citizenship law….People are apprehensive… They believe that if this new law is enacted, there will be huge influx of migrants. So they vociferously demand exemption from this law. Supporting the sentiments of my people, I would like to urge the Indian government that an exemption clause or safeguard clause may kindly be added for the state of Manipur in the proposed legislation,” he said.
Meanwhile, 12 non-BJP lawmakers are learnt to have met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and urged him to exclude Northeastern states from the Bill. They have argued that if it comes into effect, tribal populations would be vulnerable to displacement.
Shah’s discussions on Friday, Saturday and December 3 will be with North East Students’ Organisation (NES), All Bodo Students’ Union and students bodies from Meghalaya, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh.
He will also interact with the chief ministers of north eastern on Saturday, an official said. Leaders of political parties and heads of socio-cultural outfits have also been invited for discussion.