Former Union Minister and senior Congress leader Salman Khurshid on Saturday said that the BJP has "lost the narrative" over the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019.
Amid the nationwide protests against the newly-enacted law, the BJP has decided to launch a massive communication campaign to allay the public fears and apprehensions over the Citizenship Act. As part of this, the party will reach out to over three crore families, orgse press conferences at over 250 places in the next 10 days, BJP general secretary Bhupender Yadav had said.
When asked about this, Khurshid told , "I am very disappointed... Their job is very tough, it is very difficult, and 250 is not going to do it. If they want my advice, it should be 2000. They have lost the narrative. Here are people saying India united, India won, India as a secular nation... The challenge to the BJP is that we will not allow the idea of India to be dissipated. They will need a million press conferences and it will not make a difference."
Talking about the violence in Uttar Pradesh against the CAA, Khurshid said, "I think it's tragic... There is a difference of opinion about how we should run our country and that difference of opinion is leading to deaths of innocent people. Everyone who has died would be innocent. All they are doing is (that) they are giving their support to a point of view that matters a great deal to them."
He added, "The tragedy of Uttar Pradesh is that this is not the first thing that has led to people dying. There are deaths because people are being lynched, there are deaths because women are being assaulted, there are deaths because people don't have food, there are deaths because farmers are starving."
Addressing a press conference here, Bhupender Yadav had said that over "1,000 rallies will be held to clear the air over the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) and to bust the myth created by the Opposition".
He said that the party will counter the "lies" of the Opposition parties including that of the Congress over the provisions of the new law through effective communication.
"The BJP will take along the refugees who have come to India due to atrocities in their countries in its rallies," he announced.
BJP believes that all communities -- Hindu, Muslim, Buddhist, Parsi, Sikh, and others -- are Indian citizens and have the right to live with dignity, Yadav said.
The announcement came after a meeting of senior BJP leaders with the party's working president JP Nadda over the newly amended law, which grants citizenship to refugees of Pakistan, Afghstan, and Bangladesh, who arrived in India until December 31, 2014.
( With inputs from ANI )