Sangh body backs govt on CAA, seeks to spot 'trouble pockets'

In what comes as a major boost for the BJP-led NDA government at the centre, influential RSS affiliate Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS) has thrown its weight strongly behind the government to "not yield to violent protests" and urging it to identify "trouble pockets", referring to areas like Shaheen Bagh and Jamia Milia Islamia that emerged as the nucleus of anti-CAA stir.

In fact, the BMS passed a four-page resolution at its 145th National Executive Committee meeting held in Jodhpur.

Making it a fight between "nationalists" and "anti-nationals", the very first sentence of the resolution sets the tone: "Violent protest against Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019 in some parts of the country displays sharp ideological division at the national front with Nationalists on one side and those organisations involved directly or indirectly against national unity on the other side."

Quoting Jonathan Swift and making a premise for the religious persecution in three Muslim majority neighbouring countries, based on which the legislation was made, BMS gave a global context. "No country in the world will tolerate any force acting force, acting against the interests of its integrity and security in the issue of migration," reads the resolution while reminding the majority of the European Union, which the BMS claims, failed to save as much as 34,000 migrant lives between 1993 to 2014 in Europe.

The European Parliament is scheduled to take up the issue which India has strongly objected to, claiming its an internal matter.

While BMS, the labour wing of the RSS acknowledged the right to peaceful agitation, it also reminded of a "Lakshmanrekha". "It is intolerance that is sprouting into violence. Violence being used as a means of protests should be nipped in the bud. Agitation starting with violence by anti-socials and supported by some political and other groups and spreading to various parts is something to be cautiously looked into," it warned.

Interestingly, it was the BMS that came out against the government after the Union Budget which proposed the disinvestment of LIC. The organisation called the proposed move along with proposed privatisation of IDBI Bank as "fatal". But now, on the anti-CAA stir, both the ruling BJP and the BMS find themselves ideologically close to each other.

That's why the Sangh body gave a six point suggestions to the government that not only included showing "zero tolerance" to "anti national tendencies", but also to track down possible foreign funding into these anti-CAA agitations across the country. The BMS also wants the government to identify "trouble spots" that emanate violence, while suggesting it to be open to "healthy debates".

Shaheen Bagh has been witnessing a sit in protest since December 15 last year and Jamia Milia Islamia witnessed large scale violence that very evening when buses were torched and cars were damaged. Ever since, the anti-CAA stir has only been growing, making it a religion centric argument, focusing on the exclusion of Muslims from being able to avail the fast track route to Indian citizenship.

( With inputs from IANS )