BJP misread mood on CAA, admits Union Minister

Mumbai: The government did not anticipate the protests against a new citizenship law that have raged across the country and is now scrambling to control the damage, members of the ruling BJP have said.

In Prime Minister Narendra 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.

The BJP leaders were taken aback by the backlash, some party members told Reuters. 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," Union Minister Sanjeev Balyan told Reuters.

An Uttar Pradesh minister who was visiting Bijnor district to meet with those affected by last Friday's violence during protests against the citizenship law has stirred controversy after he refused to meet with the families of the two Muslim men who died in the violence.

Minister Kapil Dev Agarwal went to meet with Om Raj Saini, who was injured in the violence that took place in the district's Nehtaur, and his family. The two deaths also happened in the same area in the western Uttar Pradesh town.

At a press conference in Bijnor after his meeting with Saini and his family, Agarwal was asked why he skipped the families of the two Muslim men. "The government says 'sabka saath, sabka vikas (Together, development for all)'. In Nehtaur, you went to the home of Om Raj Saini.

Priyanka Gandhi also visited his family, but then she also went to the other two families where people have died, one from a police bullet. How will 'sabka saath sabka vikaas' happen like this?" a reporter asked the minister.

But the minister refused to accept any allegations of discrimination, saying, "Why should I go to the homes of rioters. Listen to me. Those who are rioting and want to inflame passions, how are they part of society. Why should I go there? This is not about Hindu-Muslim. Why should I go to rioters?"

Former Congress President Rahul Gandhi took a swipe at PM Modi over his remarks that no detention centre was being constructed in Assam''s Matia and said "the Prime Minister of RSS is lying to the nation".

In a tweet, the Congress MP from Kerala''s Wayanad said: "The Prime Minister of Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) is lying to the nation."He also used the hashtag #JhootJhootJhoot that means "lie, lie, lie".