‘2 Effective Ways to Stop CAA-NRC Are…’ Prashant Kishor on the Way Forward as Protests Intensify

New Delhi: Continuing peaceful protests and pressuring non-BJP chief ministers to oppose the nation-wise rollout of National Register of Citizens are the only two effective ways to the implementation of NRC and Citizenship Amendment Act, election strategist and JD(U) vice-president Prashant Kishor said on Sunday.

Violence during protests against the politically contentious NRC and the amended citizenship law have claimed close to 20 lives in Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka and Assam, with mass demonstrations being held in the rest of the country.

“Two effective ways to stop the implementation of #CAA_NRC are; (1) Keep protesting peacefully by raising your voice on all platforms, & (2) Ensure most if not ALL of the 16 Non BJP CMs say NO to NRC in their states. Everything else important as they may is largely tokenism,” Kishor tweeted.

The JD(U) leader, whose party has said it will not roll out NRC in Bihar despite being an ally of the BJP, had on Saturday called out the Congress for its feeble participation in the protests, which has largely been spearheaded by students.

“The Congress is not on streets and its top leadership has been largely absent in the citizens’ fight against CAA-NRC. The least party could do it to make ALL Congress CMs join other CMs who have said that they will not allow NRC in their states. Or else these statements means nothing,” he had said.

Kishor, who shot to limelight after making the then BJP prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi’s 'chai pe charcha' campaign a success in 2014, has been instrumental in getting JD(U) chief and Bihar CM Nitish Kumar to reconsider his decision to support the Citizenship Amendment Bill in the Rajya Sabha.

Interestingly, Kishor’s political advocacy firm I-PAC’s latest clients are AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee, who have opposed the NRC-CAA implementation in Delhi and West Bengal, respectively.