Make sure Hindus don't get left out, particularly in West Bengal: RSS tells the government on CAB

NEW DELHI: The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, that has been keeping a close watch on the passage of the Citizenship Amendment Bill, has warned the government to be careful about its implementation in the country, especially in non-BJP ruled states.
The Sangh is most concerned about the implementation of the bill in West Bengal, where it feels that if the identification of immigrants is left to the Trinamool Congress there, it might not be carried out the way it ought to.

"If the Centre-appointed facilitators are not committed enough, they can be obstructed by the TMC workers and if the exercise is not monitored by the Centre on a day-to-day basis, it can lead to under counting of Hindu immigrants also because the state government would want to prove a point," a person in the know of the matter said.

On Monday, West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, addressing a victory rally at Kharagpur where the TMC won the recent bypolls, said her party will not allow CAB in the state.

An RSS functionary said that not just Trinamool, the Left and the Congress too have opposed NRC in Bengal. “In the Assembly and outside, the three parties have been virtually echoed each other on the issue. We are also asking our workers to keep a check on what they communicate to the people to make sure that they do not create panic."

The Sangh Parivar is also pushing its stand as aligned with the long-standing demand of the refugees, particularly from the Matua community in the state who entered India from Bangladesh after 1971.

"While they have voting rights, as per existing rules, they are not Indians. Many of the Namashudras suffering there are our Dalit brothers," the functionary said.

Similarly, there is a worry for the RSS in Rajasthan too, where it feels a large number of immigrants from Pakistan have settled over the years. According to the numbers that the RSS has, immigrants from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afganistan are also in UP, in places in and around Lakhimpur Kheri, and also in Andhra Pradesh, apart from Bihar, West Bengal, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Odisha and other states.

"Over the years, NGOs affiliated with us have shared details of many of these settlers who live in miserable conditions. Through civic action groups, we have already sent in their details to the government," the functionary said. He further said that the implementation will remain a challenge, particularly in the eastern states. "In the west, there was transfer of population. But in Bengal, the Nehru-Liaquat pact complicated things. The Muslims came back to West Bengal, but the Hindus could not."

The organisation has held several discussions with the government on the amendments. The four-point suggestion given to the government on the CAB issue include – making the process of verification simple, not raising the issue about the North East, de-linking it from NRC, and not letting the debate go against the Hindu immigrants.

"The RSS has passed several resolutions since 1964 regarding plight of minorities in some of India's neighbouring countries.The RSS wants it to be treated as an issue of national interest," said Arun Anand, author of two books on the RSS.

A senior RSS official who met mediapersons on Saturday said, "CAB should not be confused or linked" to the National Register of Citizens (NRC), which has declared about 19 lakh people foreigners. The RSS is particularly worried about the exclusion of 18 lakh persons from the final NRC list earlier this year, a significant part of whom, the organisation believes, are Hindus.

"CAB should be seen as our moral and constitutional responsibility. Persecuted minorities cannot be compared with or linked with the illegal immigrants in the country. We have specifically told the government to make the process of verification very easy for the refugees. The pool of what can be testified as evidence should be big," he said.