BENGALURU: As India celebrates Republic Day next weekend, the BJP Karnataka unit is readying itself to commemorate the day in a rather different way, in its 58,000 booths across the state.
Party workers will hold interactions to tell people about the pain that thousands of refugees from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh have gone through, in the BJP’s biggest-ever outreach to justify the Citizenship Amendment Act.
BJP MLC and general secretary N Ravi Kumar said the party cadre will celebrate Republic Day in the booths by “unfurling the national tricolour and complimenting Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the CAA’’.
This comes against the backdrop of the rash of anti-CAA protests that have broken out and continued unabated across the state and country.
“MPs, MLAs, municipal members and even GP members will participate in the event that will mark the end of the party’s People Outreach Programme held in January,’’ he said, adding that the party received an overwhelming response from the people.
He claimed that the masses were with the BJP on the CAA issue.
Kumar explained that the party would bring out a booklet that would illustrate the trauma of refugees who had deserted their homes in the Islamic nations of Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh, and come to India for “shelter and dignity”.
He said the BJP will also utilise Republic Day to expose the Congress party’s politics of negativism on the issue of CAA, and tell the people how the country’s oldest party is relying on “falsehood and misinformation” to mislead the people, especially the minorities. He said the party cadre have reached out to about 61 intellectuals, besides 70 lakh people by visiting about 20 lakh houses.
“As many as 10,15,031 calls have been made to support CAA, and 2.14 lakh letters written, expressing solidarity with the PM,” Kumar said.