At a rally in Darjeeling on Thursday, 11 April, BJP President Amit Shah said, “We will ensure implementation of NRC in the entire country. We will remove every single infiltrator from the country, except Buddha, Hindus and Sikhs.”
The NRC – or the National Register of Citizens – in Assam is a document meant to contain names of all “genuine citizens” in the state, and has been controversial as many argue they have been left out of it unfairly.
The BJP’s official Twitter handle tweeted Shah’s statement, too.
“We have promised in our manifesto that when Narendra Modi forms government once again, we will implement NRC in the entire country,” said Shah.
The open call against minorities of the country shook Twitterati – and many of them tweeted in disbelief.
Nazism?
The sheer audacity of the statement also prompted Twitterati to compare the party to Hitler’s. Journalist Tony Joseph compared this to Nazism.
Another Twitter user said this is “straight up Hitler talk”.
‘This Shows BJP’s Agenda’
Gauhar Khan and Pooja Bhatt expressed shock at the “blatantly divisive” nature of the BJP.
YouTuber Dhruv Rathee said this threat of exodus will cause riots among millions of people as NRC is a heavily flawed process of determining “infiltrators”.
‘We Will Remove You First’
Some Twitter users said people will respond to this threat by voting them out. “You may have all departments dancing to your tunes now, but soon India will respond back to this threat,” said AAP spokesperson Preeti Sharma Menon.
Journalist Rifat Jawaid said the citizens are determined to remove the BJP first.
‘Too Late To Evict Buddha’
Twitterati poked fun at the tweet that mentioned ‘Buddha’ instead of ‘Buddhists’.
Cause For Concern
Journalist Mitali Saran said the statement is proof that there is cause for concern.
Another journalist Vidya said the BJP’s official Twitter handle would get blocked for this hate-mongering if it were a just world.
Show Of Solidarity
Many Sikhs expressed their protest over the statement and refused to support “hatred and bigotry”.
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