Muslims will face no loss due to CAA: RSS chief

Guwahati: Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief Mohan Bhagwat, speaking here on Wednesday, stressed the need for the National Register of Citizens (NRC) and justified the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), while saying the two frameworks would not create any Hindu-Muslim divide.

Mr Bhagwat, now on a two-day visit to Assam, alleged the communal narrative propagated around the CAA-NRC was created deliberately for political mileage. Saying that no Muslim in India would face any setback due to the CAA, Mr Bhagwat said this country does not need lessons on secularism, socialism and democracy from the world. “This is in our tradition, in our blood. Our country has implemented these and kept them alive… The CAA and NRC haven’t been formed against any citizen of India. Indian Muslims will face no loss due to the CAA.”

Regretting that the NR and CAA have been seen as tools for political mileage by many political forces, Mr Bhagwat reiterated: “Some people bring the narration along communal lines. Such talk takes place for political benefit, so let it go on. But we have to be careful as citizens can see and understand the politics.”

Mr Bhagwat, releasing a book titled Citizenship Debate over NRC and CAA -- Assam and the Politics of History, said: “After Independence, the first Prime Minister of the country had said that minorities will be taken care of, and that has been done so far. We will continue to do so. We are abiding by that till today, but Pakistan didn't.”

The citizenship law will provide protection to persecuted minorities in the neighbouring countries, the RSS chief underlined.

“We reach out to the majority communities too in these countries during a calamity… If there are some who wish to come to our country due to threats and fear, we will definitely have to help them out,” Mr Bhagwat said.

Referring to the NRC as an important document for any country, he said all nations have the right to know who its citizens are. “The matter is in the political domain as the government is involved in it... A section of people wants to get political mileage by creating a communal narrative around these two issues,” he added.

Mr Bhagwat arrived here on a two-day visit on Tuesday evening. He held a number of meetings with RSS leaders in Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Tripura and Manipur. Organisational matters like the welfare of the local population as well as the Covid-19 situation in the region was discussed at the meetings.

Mr Bhagwat is also due to meet some political leaders during the trip. However, their names were not disclosed. This is Mr Bhagwat’s first visit to Assam after the BJP returned to power in the state.

Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma was also present at the book release hosted at Srimanta Sankaradev Kalakshetra. The RSS chief plans to leave for Chennai on Thursday.