According to the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, passed by the Lok Sabha, citizenship would be provided to “Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan”. However, the BJP’s manifesto, released on Monday, titled ‘Sankalp Patra’, omitted Christians and Parsis from the list.
The document stated: “Hindus, Jains, Buddhists, Sikhs escaping persecution from India’s neighbouring countries will be given citizenship in India,” reported The Indian Express.
The Indian Express contacted the BJP over this omission, within an hour of which the manifesto uploaded on the BJP website reflected the addition of Christians. However, Parsis are still missing from the document.
Bhupender Yadav, BJP General Secretary and a member of the manifesto committee, told The Indian Express that “it was an error” and “there is no change in the party’s policy to protect all minorities”.
“The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill remains the same. There is no change in our policy of protecting all minorities. In fact, in the Sankalp Patra, under the Inclusive Development title, the party makes it clear that we are committed to the empowerment and ‘development with dignity’ of all minorities — Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains and Parsis etc,” Yadav told The Indian Express.
He added that he had given instructions to add Christians to the list in the party document.
BJP leader Meenakshi Lekhi, another member of the manifesto committee, said the persecuted population of Christians and Parsis in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh is minimal. However, she added that the Bill would cover all minorities of Indian origin in these countries.
She also seemed to defend the “error”, saying there is no data to show that any country apart from India accepts persecuted Hindus from these countries as refugees. “India happens to be the parent country for them. India has to give refuge to these sections (Hindus, Buddhists, Jains and Sikhs), and it is our duty because they are homeless and faceless where they are persecuted,” Lekhi told The Indian Express.
She added that persecuted Christians get asylum in many countries, citing Canada as an example.
(With inputs from The Indian Express.)
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