PM’s Ramlila Maidan Speech: Was All That Spoken True?

The entire nation is heated up with massive protests from various parts. People have come together to display civil disobedience against the much-discussed and criticised Citizenship Amendment Act, and as a result, a great deal of violence has been reported in many cities. Amidst this intense situation, on December 22nd, PM Modi addressed the people of Delhi as a part of campaigning for the upcoming Assembly election. While a campaign speech was expected to have the pointers of the work done and promises, PM’s speech was more like a CAA protest combat!

Most of the facts stated were ironically contradictory to the party’s own statements given earlier and some were absolute lies.

Let’s have look at some of those points:

1. The first statement in the row is that there had been no talks and no discussion on NRC to be implemented in the entire country. This clearly flies in the face of the Union Home minister Amit Shah’s statement, “We are very clear that NRC will happen in all the states”, made in the parliament. Mr Modi also added that NRC was to be conducted in Assam as per the order of SC and BJP never had any intention of carrying out NRC! Well, this is sheer amusement to all of us.
2. Next, the PM said that the Congress and other political parties have only lied and spread rumours about NRC and CAA, and no detention camps have been created anywhere in the country. Further, nothing will be created whereas, people in Assam’s detention camps are losing lives on a daily basis due to the substandard dwelling conditions. And there has been no answer to this.
3. Next, Modi clearly stated that BJP has never indulged in anything discriminatory against the Muslims, which is exactly against the primary objective of the Citizenship Amendment Act. Why was it passed in the first place, and if there are no plans of NRC, then how is the government going to identify the persecuted migrants? What documents will be needed for CAA in the absence of NRC? And most importantly, what is going to happen to all those Muslims who, despite being Indians, have been excluded in the Assam NRC? None of these important questions found any answer in his speech.
4. Not even for once was there anything mentioned about what steps the government might take or has taken to promote education and employment in the country. Rather, the entire speech was outrightly accusatory to Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Congress, and other members of the opposition. The Delhi government party has also challenged Modi’s claim that AAP has provided certificates for unauthorised colonies.
5. The most surprising of all is that not even once did Modi mention the student protesters and their plight. The unwarranted attack on students of various universities in Delhi seems to be of meagre importance to the PM. Also, why accommodating immigrants has become so important suddenly that the interest of citizens is clearly being overlooked? The NRC is a legal process, and it was much-required, but the way it was carried out was outrightly incorrect.

PM’s speech has received strong waves of disagreement from prominent leaders across the country, wherein all of them have indicated that so many points were incorrect/false. So what does this indicate? Can we not expect a prompt solution to the national and civil crisis from the leader of the nation? Is it too much to ask for?

The need of the hour is to understand the points on which people are protesting and initiate a conversation. The need of the hour is to work unanimously to solve this and many more prevailing issues. The need of the hour is to examine the root of the problem and to deal with those in a streamlined manner, and finally, to stop disputes taking place for the sake of caste and religion!