Jodhpur, Jan 3 (IANS) All eyes are on Jodhpur as Union Home Minister Amit Shah is set to address a mammoth pro-CAA rally here on Friday.
Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot will also be in the city. Gehlot will attend different programmes from 12 p.m. to 6.30 p.m.
Shah’s rally is being discussed as an attempt of BJP to corner Gehlot in his home turf as he has openly announced not to implement the Citizenship Amendment Act and the National Register of Citizens in Rajasthan while on the other hand, Gehlot’s presence in Jodhpur on same day also highlights his combativeness to counterattack the opposition.
Meanwhile, the strategic decision of the BJP to hold the rally in Jodhpur is because it hosts thousands of Pakistani Hindu migrants who are living here in tough conditions for years awaiting their citizenship in India.
Earlier, it was decided to hold the rally in Jaipur, however, senior BJP leaders opted for Jodhpur as it has over 20,000 Hindu migrants from Pakistan who will also be participating in this rally. This is the second rally of Shah being organised to support CAA as the first rally was organised in Kolkata. 30 such rallies are to be addressed by Shah to make people aware of the CAA.
As Gehlot has been openly announcing in his programmes that CAA and NRC shall not be implemented in Rajasthan, he has been on the radar of the top BJP central leadership too.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Shah both have been attacking Gehlot referring to a letter he sent to the then Home Minister P. Chidambaram in which he himself had requested for granting citizenship to Hindu and Sikh migrants from Pakistan.
While Modi quipped that Congress leaders, who once were supporting the citizenship cause for migrants from Pakistan, are now taking a u-turn, Shah also targeted him in Rajya Sabha saying “we are giving citizenship to six communities while Gehlot had requested citizenship for only two communities namely Sikhs and Hindus during the UPA tenure.”
–IANS
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