3 reasons why BJP is defiant on ‘non-negotiable’ CAA

Little before 10 pm on the Friday night, the Centre uploaded the gazette notification for the contentious CAA, ensuring the Act comes into play with immediate effect. It comes amid nationwide protests against the Act by various Muslim organisations, intellectuals and student bodies across the country. The move is seen as a defiance by the government, whose Home Minister, the architect of CAA, said a few days ago there would be no rollback. Speaking to media, Amit Shah had said there would be no retraction by “even an inch”.

But even as the Jamia, JNU, AMU protests and the fire spreads far and wide, from the Mumbai’s Gateway to hilly corners of Shillong, the government has its plan in motion to counter the anti-CAA narrative. Many within the government believe, a month long delay in the notification of CAA even after being passed in Parliament and receiving the

Presidential assent was to make grounds to launch the government’s counter.

Modi’s Digital Counter: The anti-CAA movement was sparked off digitally with a hashtag ‘india against CAA’ that glued students, intellectuals, celebs and Muslim groups together. The government too kickstarted the counter offensive digitally. On Dec 30, PM himself, in a tweet, launched the counter campaign where he stated, “#IndiaSupportsCAA because CAA is about giving citizenship to persecuted refugees & not about taking anyone’s citizenship away. Check out this hashtag in Your Voice section of the Volunteer module on NaMo App for content, graphics, videos & more. Share & show your support for CAA.”

Very soon, the hashtag started trending on top and many top ministers, BJP state chiefs, CMs’ of BJP-ruled states, social media influencers and importantly, commoners, started voicing their stand on CAA. Almost two weeks on, it’s still a popular trend.

Speaking to IANS, at the time of the launch of this counter digital movement, Harish Ramaswamy, a political thinker, while describing how Modi can afford to go aggressive, even in the face of multi-pronged attacks, said: “See, Modi’s idea of democracy is where the ruling party alone matters. He doesn’t care about the opposition. Interestingly, he is still a very popular leader and whatever he says, appears to be believable to most.” Nationwide PR Outreach: Just a couple of days before Modi launched his digital counter offensive on anti-CAA narrative by the opposition, BJP had identified six leaders to spearhead its nationwide outreach on the CAA. While Anil Jain is leading the party’s charge in UP and Bihar, Avinash Rai has been entrusted with coordination in Chhattisgarh, MP, Uttarakhand and Delhi.

Delhi, which will go to poll on February 8, has witnessed large-scale violent protests, starting near Jamia. Since then, it has been witnessing protests — virtually every day — either by the student groups or intellectuals.

Other prominent leaders were entrusted with other states and UTs.

Door-to-door campaign: Apart from holding press conferences, meeting with intellectuals and social media influencers, BJP has also embarked into a countrywide door-to-door campaign for this Act, quite the old school way. Amit Shah himself started it in Delhi and JP Nadda in Ghaziabad.

On the very first day of the enactment of the law, 42 leaders, including high profile union ministers were deputed across India to knock door to door and pass on pamphlets that seek to “dispel myths” about the CAA.

Before this door-to-door campaign was kicked off, on January 1, 2020, as the nation was celebrating, Shah was locked inside the BJP headquarters with top BJP leaders to give final touches to the modalities of the massive campaign and sort out logistical issues. Lately, certain BJP leaders have been making communally coloured statements to make the anti-CAA protests lose its steam.