New Delhi: Many homes in a Kerala district have put up posters asking BJP and RSS workers who are canvassing support for the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) to stay away.
As protests continue across the country against the controversial Act, the BJP has initiated various outreach measures to garner support. In Kerala, a mass-contact drive has begun, but in the Karadi village of Kozhikode district in Kerala, around 350 houses put up posters informing the workers that they are not welcome.
The posters also called for the Act to be scrapped, while also rejecting the National Population Register (NPR) and the proposed nationwide National Register of Citizens (NRC). The text in Malayalam reads: “We are fully aware that this law is against the Constitution. BJP-RSS workers need not come here to explain their support to this.”
Azad Karadi, a local functionary of the Muslim Youth League, the youth wing of the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), told The Telegraph that the protest was initiated on Monday after the BJP and the RSS began sharing pictures of “poor Muslim men and women made to pose with their pro-CAA booklet”.
“What we found objectionable is that the campaigners misuse the welcome extended by families from all communities. In many cases the families tell the BJP workers about their opposition to the citizenship law. But they click pictures while handing over a pro-CAA booklet and circulate them on social media, giving the wrong impression that Muslims have welcomed it,” he said.
He said that the BJP has also “misused” photos taken with an MLA and a Sunni leader. On Monday, the BJP’s social media accounts circulated pictures of Karat Razack, a Left-leaning independent MLA from Koduvalli in Kozhikode, and Nasser Faizi Koodathai, the state secretary of the Sunni Youth Movement, with the pro-CAA booklet.
When the duo was questioned about the photos, they said that while they could not stop the campaigners who visited them, they had expressed their opposition to the CAA, NRC and the NPR. They reiterated these sentiments.
According to reports, similar posters have cropped up in other parts of the district too.
Azad said that the posters have been put up in homes of Hindus, Muslims and Christians. “We take their permission before sticking the posters as we don’t want to misuse our friendship with the families,” he added.
Lawmaker Razack told The Telegraph that he did not expect BJP workers to circulate the picture to mislead people into believing that he supports the CAA. “I welcomed them as I would welcome anyone. But it is improper to circulate such pictures as it would give a wrong impression that Muslims and Leftists are supporting the CAA,” said Razack.