The passage of the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2019, in the Lok Sabha on Monday has sent ripples across BJP ally Janata Dal(U), with party vice-president Prashant Kishor and national general secretary Pavan Verma expressing disappointment over the party’s support for the Bill.
In a tweet late on Monday night, Mr. Kishor sought to underscore that the Bill was “incongruous” with the constitution of the party, headed by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, which swore by secularism and Gandhian ideals.
“Disappointed to see JDU supporting #CAB that discriminates right of citizenship on the basis of religion. It’s incongruous with the party’s constitution that carries the word secular thrice on the very first page and the leadership that is supposedly guided by Gandhian ideals,” the poll strategist-turned-politician tweeted.
Mr. Verma too took to the micro blogging site on Tuesday to express much the same. “I urge Shri Nitish Kumar to reconsider support to the CAB in Rajya Sabha. The Bill is unconstitutional, discriminatory, and against the unity and harmony of the country, apart from being against the secular principles of the JD(U). Gandhiji would have strongly disapproved of it,” he tweeted.
Party unfazed
While the party did not comment specifically on Mr. Kishor or Mr. Verma’s comments, Rajya Sabha member and JD(U) Bihar unit chief Bashishstha Narayan Singh said the party was keeping to its stance of supporting the Bill in Rajya Sabha as well. “There is a line the party has taken and will keep to it,” Mr. Singh told The Hindu . Participating in the debate on the Bill, the party’s leader in Lok Sabha, Rajiv Ranjan alias Lalan Singh, said the JD(U) was supporting the legislation since it was “not against secularism”.
