New Delhi: West Bengal BJP vice president and Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose’s grandnephew Chandra Kumar Bose has said that in a democratic country, a law should not be thrust on citizens and that simply having a majority does not mean that one should indulge in “terror politics”, according to news agency ANI.Referring to the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) passed last month by parliament, Bose said, “Our job is to explain to people that we are right and they are wrong. You cannot be abusive. Just because we have numbers today we cannot do terror politics. Let us go to people explaining benefits of CAA.”“Once a Bill has been passed as an Act, it is binding on the state governments, that is the legal position but in a democratic country you cannot thrust any act on the citizens of our country,” he added.Bose also said that he had suggested some changes to the Bill which would make the opposition’s campaign “fizzle out”. “I have suggested to my party leadership that with a little modification, the entire opposition campaign will fizzle out. We need to specifically state that it is meant for persecuted minorities, we should not mention any religion. Our approach should be different,” the BJP leader said.Also read: BJP’s Chandra Kumar Bose Locks Horns With Meghalaya Governor on TwitterBose’s remarks came days after the BJP’s West Bengal state president Dilip Ghosh threatened to ‘shoot and kill’ those who allegedly damaged public property during anti-CAA protests “like it was done in Uttar Pradesh”. At a public meeting in Nadia district, Ghosh said that the protestors should have been “shot like dogs”.Ghosh subsequently went on to say that 50 lakh “Muslim infiltrators” would be identified and “chased out of the country” if needed.Last month, Bose questioned his party’s decision to exclude Muslims from the CAA and took to Twitter on December 23 to state, “If CAA2019 is not related to any religion why are we stating – Hindu, Sikh, Boudha, Christians, Parsis and Jains only! Why not include Muslims as well? Let’s be transparent.” In another tweet, he wrote, “Don’t equate India or compare it with any other nation – as it is a nation open to all religions and communities.”The passing of CAA, which seeks to fast-track citizenship for six non-Muslims communities from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh, has ignited protests across the country. Protests have erupted across the country, asking that the Act be scrapped, and other policies such as the National Register of Citizens (NRC) and National Population Register (NPR) be abandoned. Opposition political parties and state governments ruled by them have expressed opposition to implementing the law. The state government of Kerala has also moved the Supreme Court challenging the constitutional validity of the Act.
