‘Doors open for minorities in Pak, B’desh’

MEERUT: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah on Sunday said India was willing to open its doors to religious minorities like Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Budhhists and Parsis facing persecution in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh.

Making a strong pitch for the Assam BJP government’s move to prepare a National Register of Citizens (NRC), with over four million of the 32.9 million applicants left out of the draft NRC, Shah said the Indian government was willing to support the religious minorities in the three countries.

Political observers said Shah’s pitch on the NRC and his promise to give shelter to minorities in the neighbouring countries indicated that the BJP was planning to play up the issue of “ghuspaithiya” (intruders) to project itself as a party that puts the nation above vote bank politics.

Shah’s meeting with party members was not open to the media, but Uttar Pradesh BJP chief Mahendra Nath Pandey said the BJP chief spoke of giving shelter and subsequently “citizenship rights” to Hindus in these countries.

Later, according to BJP national general secretary Bhupendra Yadav, Shah said that ‘Bhavishya main hamare padosi desh jaise Pakistan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan ... wahan rehne wale minorities jaise ki Hindus, Sikh, Parsis aur Bauddha, yadi dharmik pratarna ke karan Bharat aate hain toh unko sharanarthi ka darza denge (in future if Hindus, Sikhs, Parsis, Buddhists and Jains living in Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan face religious persecution and come to India, we would extend them the status of refugees).”

When asked about the fate of the for million applicants in Assam who failed to make it to the NRC, Yadav said the law would take its own course.