HYDERABAD: Opposing the CAA, NPR and NRC, Swaraj India president Yogendra Yadav hit out at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)led government and Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday. Speaking at a gathering organised to observe the fourth death anniversary of Rohith Vemula, Yadav said that the BJP government and Prime Minister Modi were trying to break the country in the name of religion, while anti-CAA protestors were trying to unite it. He raised the slogan ‘Wo todenge, to hum joddengende’ (If they will break, we will unite).
Yadav stated that the anti-CAA/NRC/NPR protests were unique as the traditional political leadership, as well as community-based stakeholders, were missing because people were tired of them. "However, in Hyderabad this traditional leadership is still present, but it will also vanish soon. People must thank both Shah and Shahensha (ruler) for uniting the people and provoking them to start this current movement in the country," he said.
Claiming that the NRC and NPR are the same, he said, “It is an attempt to make categories of citizenship. They want to divide people by putting labels of ‘landlords’ and ‘tenets’. Today, the division is for Muslims and non-Muslims, tomorrow it will be for Christians, nomadic communities, dalits, and trans communities.” Yadav also pointed out that even if CAA does not take away anyone’s citizenship, it is still dangerous as it is the first time citizenship is being linked to religion.
“Are we trying to make a Hindu Israel/Hindu Pakistan? Isn’t this what the founding fathers of our nation fought against?” he asked. According to him, the BJP is desperate to win elections and ‘know the only way they can win is by making it nakedly communal.’Urging the people to continue the movement, he said, “the Central government will not step back as the CAA has already been notified on January 10, 2020, and the process of NPR has also been initiated. Therefore, we too cannot go back. It is about a struggle to save the very soul and idea of India.”