ROURKELA: The strident anti-CAA stand taken by the Congress has begun to cause rumblings in the Sundargarh party organisation with a section believing it may boomerang by alienating the majority.
Several senior leaders of the Rourkela District Congress Committee (RDCC) and Sundargarh District Congress Committee (SDCC) have begun privately expressing concern over the political fallout of such a stand.
Requesting anonymity, a leader pointed out during the CAA protests of Congress in Rourkela Assembly segment, the majority of the participants were Muslims. “This is sending a wrong message. The Congress is unwittingly ending up creating a Muslim face which may antagonise the Hindus. The BJP will benefit from the polarisation”, he said.
The party’s anti-CAA protest at Sundargarh town on January 13 had led to a clash between minority community members and members of the Saffron brigade who are in support of CAA. The leaders contended that the Congress should not have gone too far by organising continuous agitations on CAA.
Party leaders said Sundargarh Zilla Parishad poll in scheduled in February 2022 and by that time, the Muslim citizens would realise that CAA and NRC are not meant for them and at the same time, Hindu voters may ditch the Congress.
The BJP has also gone all out to convince people about CAA by holding awareness campaigns by top leaders and door-to-door outreach at the grassroots. The Congress just does not appear to have a effective counter plan against the BJP campaign apart from organising protests.
The Sundargarh Parliamentary Constituency has seven Assembly seats. Although it has a sizeable Muslim population, Christian voters play a decisive role. Both Christian and Muslim votes are divided between the Congress and BJD with BJP getting a negligible share.
However, the Congress leadership has defended its stand and stated it would have the desired impact. Former Rourkela MLA Pravat Mohapatra and former SDCC president BM Tripathy said it was a fight for the country’s Constitutional values of secularism.
The BJP is dividing the country on the basis of religion and a secular stand would benefit the Congress, they said.Meanwhile, the district unit of BJP has planned to reach out to Muslims in a big way. It will hold awareness drive on CAA and NRC among Muslim intellectuals and clerics in Sundargarh Parliamentary constituency.