RSS volunteers to take forward pro-CAA campaign

Lucknow, Jan 21 (IANS) Even as the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) is intensifying its campaign to clear misunderstandings over the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) has now stepped in to assist in the campaign by enlisting over 30,000 volunteers to distribute pamphlets containing details about the law.

The Lok Jagran Manch, an RSS-backed organization, has come up with a pamphlet carrying pictures of minor Hindu girls allegedly abducted, sexually abused and converted in Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan to put forth a strong case in favour of the citizenship law.

The coloured pamphlet explains the need for CAA, claiming that Hindus, Buddhists, Jains, Sikhs, Christians and Parsis, on the other side of the borders, are facing atrocities after partition and continuously fleeing to India for the past 70 years.

The pamphlets which bear a photograph of Mahatma Gandhi cite his views that every Hindu and Sikh residing in Pakistan could always come to India if they do not wish to live in Pakistan.

"Then providing jobs to them and making their life normal would be the first duty of the Indian government," it said claiming that Gandhi expressed these views during a prayer meeting held on September 26, 1947.

The rear side of the pamphlet has five passport size photographs of minor Hindu girls aged between 12 to 17 years who have been abducted and abused in these neighbouring countries.

The pamphlet claims that on an average, every day, a Hindu girl is being kidnapped in Sindh province of Pakistan and after which they are forced to convert to Islam and marry a Muslim man. It says that some of these girls are as young as eight years.

Referring to the recent incident of Nankana Sahib in Punjab province of Pakistan, the pamphlet points out that 19-year-old daughter of a 'granthi' was kidnapped at gunpoint on August 28, 2019.

The pamphlet also points out the decreasing count of Hindus in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh, grabbing of temples and lands of Hindus to prove its point.

The pamphlet distribution is being carried out by volunteers including those associated with pro-RSS organisations including Bhartiya Janata Party, BJP's Yuva Morcha (BJYM), Lok Jagran Manch (LJM), Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarathi Parishad (ABVP), Bajrang Dal and Durga Vahini.

The RSS cadre plans to distribute these pamphlets in awareness programme for the CAA down to the villages and development blocks of Uttar Pradesh.

"We are fully backing the public awareness initiative. As many as 60 lakh of these pamphlets have been printed for distribution in UP alone at a rate of over 10 lakh for each of the six 'prants' in which the state is divided by BJP and RSS," said a senior RSS functionary.

Besides the pamphlet, two booklets on misinformation and doubts have also been printed on CAA and are being distributed among the opinion-makers and community leaders.

BJP media in-charge of Kashi Prant, Mrityunjay Tiwari, said the anti-CAA protests were politically motivated and the RSS and the BJP, along with affiliated and sister organizations, including ABVP, Akhil Bhartiya Adhivakta Sangh, Seva Bharti etc, were all working together under the banner of Lok Jagran Manch.

The new citizenship law has triggered nationwide protests and clashes with police that have led to 23 deaths across the country.