PM Modi's CAA Outreach: Better Late Than Never

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's outreach on the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and his attempt to clear the air on the subject, is a welcome move, if a rather belated one. Besides this, the government needs to do much more to carry all sections of society on board on this issue. Home minister Amit Shah and other BJP ministers from the Centre also followed up with statements seeking to allay the fears of those who perceived the Act and National Register of Citizens (NRC), as a threat to their citizenship.

The BJP's response to anti-CAA protests in many places, has been largely reactive. It was as if the ruling party leadership did not anticipate the scale of protests in many parts of the country, some of which have proved to be violent.

By the time ministers of the Modi government and spokesmen for BJP began to issue clarifications on CAA-NRC and National Population Register (NPR), widespread confusion prevailed over them among some sections of the population. The propaganda campaign of the Congress, Trinamool Congress (TMC), Left, SP, BSP and other opposition parties strengthened the perception, described by the government as misinformation on the issue.

It is only later that the ruling party clarified that the NPR was an exercise initiated by the Congress in UPA under Dr Manmohan Singh.

The Modi government needs to step up the campaign on CAA to dispel the doubts in the minds of people in many parts of the country that it would have an impact on Indian citizens. The government's thrust that CAA is aimed to give shelter and citizenship to persecuted minorities from neighbouring countries, has got lost in the sound and fury surrounding the protests.