Rift in BJP over citizenship issue? Muslim leaders of minority cell in Madhya Pradesh are now anti-CAA-NRC

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is facing brewing discontent within its ranks of minority politicians regarding the recent fiasco over the citizenship issue. According to sources, some members of the BJP's minority cell in Madhya Pradesh have recently come out openly in protest against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the National Register of Citizens (NRC). While some Muslim leaders have publicly let known their opposition to CAA-NRC, a few others cut their ties off with the saffron camp and resigned.

Perhaps the most prominent of these names are Adil Khan, Bhopal District President of BJP's minority wing, and Javed Baig, the cell's media in-charge. Earlier this month, state secretary of BJP's minority cell Akram Khan resigned due to “indecent comments on a class-specific community”. Along with him, Abdul Hakim Qureshi, former chairman of the Masjid Committee and member of the Madhya Pradesh Madarsa Board, has also resigned from the BJP's primary membership. Qureshi, who had been with the saffron camp for over 25 years and was a close aide of former Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh Shivraj Singh Chouhan, said that people from within the party had been passing community-specific remarks and treating Muslims like outsiders even if they had served the party for a long time.

Following the resignation of these two leaders, several others are considering to follow in their footsteps and quit the BJP. Minority wing leader Nasir Shah was seen openly expressing his discontent regarding the CAA, while Adil Khan posted an anti-CAA notice on Facebook. A meeting has been called for party workers by the BJP's minority cell on Saturday to decide whether the members should follow suit and quit en masse to show their opposition to CAA-NRC. Adil Khan's post on Facebook openly called for any minority member in BJP, who is opposed to the CAA, to come to attend the meeting on January 11. Similarly, the cell's media-in-charge Javed Baig, in a Facebook post, wrote that the BJP is no longer the same as it was during the time of Atal Bihari Vajpayee, LK Advani, and Arif Baig. He said that there is nothing in the BJP for Muslims, anymore.

“We had joined the party of leaders like Atal Bihari Vajpayee. But it has lost its way. We have spent our blood and sweat for it,” Baig was quoted as having said. He added, "One should speak up whenever there is something wrong."

Several Muslim BJP leaders have said that the party has been ignoring them and keeping them in the dark regarding the citizenship issue and details regarding the party's stance. Many allege that they were not told about the door-to-door awareness campaigns that the saffron camp is organising. Besides, they have also accused party members of passing community-specific comments, sometimes even asking Muslim members to "go to Pakistan and/or Bangladesh", even if they had served the party for a long time.