Shah thumps chest, Mamata tugs at soul of India and seeks change

Chief minister Mamata Banerjee speaks during the “Love Your Neighbour” conclave in New Delhi on Tuesday. The event was organised by the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India’s Office for Education & Culture and Pilar Fathers (Delhi Province).  Picture by Prem Singh

TT, New Delhi: Three events have defined one of the most revealing days in Independent India as the country struggles to come to terms with the enormity of the challenge the draft National Register of Citizens in Assam has thrown up.

First, the Supreme Court, which is monitoring the update of the register, said in no uncertain terms on Tuesday that no authority can take any action on the basis of the draft register that has excluded over 40.07 lakh people. The highest court of the land also assured a fair hearing to each aggrieved person.

Second, Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee portrayed in the starkest terms possible the precipice on which the country might be teetering.

"I am Christian, that's why I will be isolated. I am a Muslim, I am tribal, I am a Dalit, that's why I will be isolated. If it goes on like this, don't you think it will create a civil war? Don't you think it will create a blood war?" she asked while addressing an event convened by the Catholic Church in New Delhi.

Mamata cited the threat as the main reason why India needs a change of guard at the top in 2019. That should be the top priority and the Prime Minister's post secondary, she contended and pitched hard for a collective leadership to take on the BJP.

Third, BJP president Amit Shah stood up in the Rajya Sabha, thumped his chest with his right hand and thundered: " Isko amal karne ki himmat nahin thi, hum mein himmat hai... (You did not have the courage to implement it. We have the courage...).

He was telling Congress members in the House that although the NRC update was initiated by the Manmohan Singh government, only the BJP dispensation could complete it.

Shah's thunder - coupled with an abhorrent "solution" offered by a Telangana BJP legislator - appeared to fit into an age-old bad-cop-good-cop pattern. Those directly associated with the government, such as home minister Rajnath Singh, continued to display restraint and promised fair treatment while those free of such constraints pulled no punches in the run-up to the general election.

In one fell swoop, Shah appeared to have shredded the leash of restraint that had marked the approach of the Assam government, run by his own party, when the draft was made public.

In the national capital, Mamata used a platform provided by a branch of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of India (CBCI) to issue a call for change in the national seat of power.

"India needs a change and that change must be in 2019 for the betterment of the people of the country," the chief minister told the gathering and apologised - lest the Church drew flak - for using the platform for sending out a political message.

Referring to CBCI secretary-general Bishop Theodore Mascarenhas's earlier assertion that all governments - present and past at the Centre and in the states - had helped the Church in India in its mission, Mamata said: "I know you appreciate them but I blame them because the situation deserves that."

Earlier, she had sought to draw a distinction between ministers such as Sushma Swaraj, Rajnath and others in the BJP after the bishop referred to them by name for helping the Church.

"Sushma and Rajnath are good people. Potato and potato chips can't be equal," she added without elaborating, just as she dropped the word "megalomania" in reference to the ruling party.

She lashed out at the ruling party and its "divisive politics" without naming it, in deference to the platform.

Later, in a fleeting interaction with the media, she ran into the now-routine question on who will be the Opposition's prime ministerial candidate. The chief minister said the collective leadership of the country would fight the BJP and the decision on the Premier will be taken post-poll.

This also appeared to be a response to frequent digs from the Modi-Shah duo on the so-called " mahagathbandhan" though almost all Opposition parties have made it clear that there will be no national pre-poll alliance but state-level adjustments to avoid the division of votes where the BJP is a force. In states where the BJP has a negligible presence, the Opposition parties plan to contest one another to avoid the saffron brigade from tapping into the anti-incumbency factor.

Prior to coming for the conclave on "Love Your Neighbour" - organised by the CBCI Office for Education & Culture and Pilar Fathers (Delhi Province) - Bengal the chief minister met a delegation of Dalit activists led by Ashok Bharati and assured them that her party would raise in Parliament the problems faced by Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.

Mamata met BJP MP Shatrughan Sinha and former finance minister Yashwant Sinha at Prime Minister Narendra Modi's trenchant critic Ram Jethmalani's house after which she met Rajnath to raise the NRC issue.

Rajnath tweeted after the meeting: "Nobody will be harassed in this entire process and, at every stage of the process, adequate opportunity of being heard will be given to all persons."