Go ahead, try implementing CAA, NRC: Prashant Kishor Challenges Amit Shah

A day after Home Minister Amit Shah said in a rally in Lucknow that protests may continue but the Citizenship Amendment Act will not be revoked, Janata Dal (United) vice president Prashant Kishor has challenged Home Minister Amit Shah to “try and implement” the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and National Register of Citizens (NRC).

“Being dismissive of citizens’ dissent couldn’t be the sign of strength of any Govt. @amitshah Ji, if you don’t care for those protesting against #CAA_NRC, why don’t you go ahead and try implementing the CAA & NRC in the chronology that you so audaciously announced to the nation!” Kishor said in a tweet on Wednesday morning.

Despite the country-wide protests continuing for over a month, the leaders of the ruling BJP along with various state and Union ministers have been vehemently campaigning in support of the contentious Act. Some of them even issuing controversial statements threatening a particular minority community.

Asserting on the implementation of the Act, Amit Shah said in his rally in Lucknow, “We are not afraid of protests. In fact we were born amid protests, raised amid protests. We had said the same thing in Opposition and we are now saying same thing while in power,”

The Union Home Minister also challenged Opposition leaders to hold a discussion with him on the Act at a public forum.

Chief Minister of Bihar, Nitish Kumar was the first NDA minister to come out against the NRC.

The support for the act in Parliament had led to a rift within the JD(U) with Prashant Kishor and Pavan Varma speaking out publicly against Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s decision to support it, reported Hindustan Times.

Chief ministers of at least 11 states including Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand, Punjab, Bihar, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Puducherry, Odisha, West Bengal and Kerala - have declared that they will not implement NRC.