Modi mantra: Nehru, Nehru, Nehru

TT, 7 February 2020, New Delhi: Narendra Modi on Thursday blamed Jawaharlal Nehru again for the Partition before falling back on the country's first Prime Minister to justify the new citizenship law as he launched a belligerent attack on the Opposition, accusing it of "inciting" Muslims. 

The Prime Minister insisted that the Citizenship (Amendment) Act had nothing to do with any of the 130 crore Indians, irrespective of their religion, but avoided any exclusive outreach to the community in his speech in the Lok Sabha that stretched over 90 minutes. 

Modi, who was replying to the Motion of Thanks to the President's address to Parliament, also sidestepped any mention of the National Register of Citizens, despite repeated shouts for clarification on the NRC and the National Population Register. 

The proposed nationwide NRC is believed to be the real reason driving the countrywide protests against the new citizenship matrix. 

Apart from patting his own back for taking "one big decision after another", Modi appeared gripped by the antiCAA protests as he spoke at length on the issue, hitting out at his favourite punching bag -- the Nehru-Gandhi family. 

He started by blaming Nehru for the country's Partition, saying that "for someone's aspiration to become PM, a line was drawn on the map", before invoking the late leader extensively to get endorsement for the citizenship law. 

Modi seized on the word "minorities" in the 1950 pact between Nehru and his Pakistan counterpart Liaquat Ali Khan to justify the exclusion of Muslims from the CAA. 

"A big secular person like Nehru, a big visionary; and everything to you, why did he not use all citizens instead of minorities? There must have been some reason," he said, looking towards the Congress benches. 

The Prime Minister then referred to a letter Nehru had purportedly written to the then chief minister of Assam, Gopinath Bordoloi, about a year before the 1950 pact.

"Nehru wrote and I quote: `You'd have to differentiate between Hindu refugees and Muslim migrants. You'll have to take full responsibility of settling refugees'. This is what Nehru wrote to the Assam chief minister," Modi said.

Nehru had purportedly written to Bordoloi in response to a letter from the Assam leader expressing concern over influx of people from the erstwhile East Pakistan.

Falling back on Nehru again, Modi said: "Nehru in this Parliament, in 1950, said that `there is no doubt that the affected people who have come to settle in India deserve citizenship and if the law isn't suitable then it should be modified'He then tossed questions at the Opposition. 

"Was Pandit Nehru communal? I want to know? Did he discriminate between Hindus and Muslims? Did he want a Hindu Rashtra?" Modi asked, amid uproar from the Congress benches.

Modi cited the examples of freedom fighter Bhupendra Kumar Datta and Pakistan's first law minister Jogendra Nath Mandal, saying both had to flee Pakistan and died in India, buttressing his claim that minorities faced and continue to face persecution in Pakistan and Bangladesh.

Before he picked on Nehru, Modi had launched a belligerent attack on the Opposition for accusing him of creating a communal divide. He referred to the "tukde-tukde" slogan -- a Right-wing coinage for liberals and Leftists -- and said the Opposition has been inciting Muslims just as Pakistan has been trying to do for long.

"Pakistan tried its best to mislead and incite the Indian Muslims but it failed. I am amazed, they (the Opposition) are now doing the same job and the country had never thought such a thing will happen," he said.

Modi then lashed out at the Congress for comparing the anti-CAA protests with the Quit India Movement and accused the party of identifying citizens by their faith. "For Congress they are only Muslims and for us they are `Bharatiya' (Indian) and Hindustani," he said, adding it was his good luck to touch the feet of freedom fighter Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan as a child.

The Prime Minister named many leading Muslim freedom fighters as well as former President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam and said: "In our eyes they are all IndiansHe attacked the "Congress and its ecosystem" for the antiCAA protests, saying the real face of the party had been exposed. "Dal ke liye kaun aur desh ke liye kaun hai log dekh rahe hain (Who is working for the party and who for the country, the people are watching)," he said.

Modi accused the Opposition of trying to unleash "anarchy" on the pretext of protecting the Constitution and claimed the people were silent but watching. "This silence of the people will surely get manifested someday," he said, suggesting that anger was building up among the majority.

Not once, however, did he take note of the repeated interjections from Congress members about a minister egging a crowd on to chant "shoot traitors" and incidents of firing at protests at Delhi's Jamia area and Shaheen Bagh.

Rahul Gandhi too came under attack. Modi started by making an apparent reference to Rahul's speech at a Delhi poll rally where the Congress leader had said "after six months the youth will beat Modi with sticks over lack of jobs".

Rahul, who was present in the House, had stood up to tell Modi to speak about joblessness.

"I have been speaking for 30-40 minutes but it took this long for the current to reach," Modi said.

Modi sought to play the victim, saying he would prepare himself for the "beating with sticks" by doing more "surya namaskars".

He said he was grateful to the Congress leader for giving him six months to prepare for the "beating"..