BJP believes ‘unrest’ will fizzle out by Budget

Vibha Sharma

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, January 9

The ruling BJP believes “Opposition-sponsored unrest over CAA-NPR/JNU will soon fizzle out” even as reports of violence emerge now from the home state of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah — Gujarat.

Leaders, while pointing to “overwhelming public support for the party’s ongoing CAA awareness campaign”, predict the situation will completely “turn around” by the time 2020-21 Budget is presented in which Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is expected to provide “tax relief/sops for the middle class and several measures to strengthen the country and its economy”.

However, the resistance of non-BJP states to the CAA/NPR process and students’ protests are being seen as a sign of the saffron party’s “falling stock, especially among youth” by its detractors and rivals. Observers also believe the students’ protests across the country are linked to the CAA/NPR/NRC issue.

Though as per the BJP, presence of “anti-national/tukde tukde gang at supposed JNU protests “in itself is telling”.

Experts say citizenship and laws related to it are the domain of the Centre and the states’ refusal to implement CAA/NPR has no legal ground. But the refusal is building/adding to perceptions against the ruling party/government, which it is now trying to dispel with the countrywide awareness campaign, independent observers point. “Otherwise where is the need to conduct an awareness drive about a law that had been passed by the Parliament,” they argue.

Meanwhile, a viewpoint also is that the Centre will find it difficult to implement NPR without the cooperation of the state governments.