Mumbai: They thought that they could do anything with the mandate they achieved in the 2019 general elections. But then this is where the top BJP leaders misread the mood of the crowd. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government did not anticipate the massive protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act when they announced. This is even the opinion of some other BJP senior leaders including ministers.
In Modi’s biggest challenge since taking office in 2014, hundreds of thousands have protested against the law offering citizenship to immigrants from non-Muslim minorities who have fled Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan. At least 21 people have died in clashes with police and property worth crores destroyed.
It is a fact that the BJP leaders are taken aback by the backlash according to some party members. They said they had been prepared for some anger from Muslims, but not the widespread protests that have convulsed most major cities for two weeks.
Now the party and the government are reaching out for help in defusing the crisis to allies and opponents sidelined when the bill passed earlier this month, the sources said.
“I really did not see the protests coming … not just me, other BJP lawmakers were also unable to predict this kind of anger,” Sanjeev Balyan, a ruling party legislator and a minister has been quoted as saying.
While there is no threat to his big parliamentary majority, the 69-year-old Modi’s reputation as a master strategist with his finger on the pulse of the people has certainly taken a hit.
Outrage at the citizenship law has been fanned by resentment against the government for following a majoritarian agenda instead of addressing an economic slowdown and loss of jobs.
In a nation with a history pocked with sectarian bloodshed, many Muslims fear the new law – and the planned National Citizenship Register (NRC) – could make the minority second-class citizens.
Students, politicians and rights activists, both Hindus and Muslims, have also taken to the streets, saying Modi is jeopardising India’s secular constitution. This is where the Modi government has been left dumbfounded. They did not expect such mass student protests.
Three other BJP lawmakers and two ministers, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said they were mobilising party supporters from all walks of life to start community dialogues and dispel discontent over the law and the register.
“I believe that the political math behind the clearance of this law was not taken into account,” said a ministers, an apparent reference to lack of consultation with allies and opposition parties.
Home Minister Amit Shah, widely seen as the second most powerful man in the country, repeated in a television interview Tuesday that Muslims had no cause for worry.
“We are all in damage control mode,” said the other minister. He informed that the BJP and hardline Hindu allies have launched a campaign to explain that the law is not discriminatory.
The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), which is the ideological parent of the BJP, has also launched a movement across urban slums to counter opposition to the bill.
“The violent protests are not because the people were not properly informed about the new law, but because they were intentionally wrongly informed by forces with vested interests,” Manmohan Vaidya, a senior RSS leader said.
Analysts say various reasons for discontent were coalescing.
“It’s evident that people are protesting against the law and also venting against Modi’s autocratic style of leadership,” said Sanjay Kumar, director of research institute the ‘Centre for the Study of Developing Societies’. “The economic crisis gives further incentive … I don’t see these protests fading very soon.”
The protests are backed by the opposition Congress, which has dominated Indian politics for most of the 72 years since independence but was soundly beaten in the last two national elections. It said the gloves were off between secular India and Modi’s hardline Hindu agenda.
“For the first time in India’s history a law has been framed on the basis of religion,” Prithviraj Chavan, a senior Congress leader said. “The ruling party’s strategy to make India a Hindu-first nation has backfired.”
Agencies