Amid anti-Citizenship protests, BJP deletes its tweet on National Register of Citizens

New Delhi: A tweet by the BJP on November 4 that brought much discomfort and enough cross-questioning from the anti-Citizenship Amendment Act protesters, has quietly been deleted.

The tweet, whose screenshot is available with IANS, read, "We will ensure implementation of NRC in the entire country. We will remove every single infiltrator from the country, except Buddha, Hindus and Sikhs: Shri @AmitShah."

At a time when the government is going out of its way to de-link the CAA and the NRC, many were citing this tweet as a reason for the protest.

Many politicians have also been exploiting this old quote that was referred to in the said tweet.

Congress leader Gaurav Gogoi tweeted five days ago: "Home Minister Amit Shah has stated in his press conference in West Bengal that CAB and NRC go hand-in-hand, Chronologically first CAB for refugees and then NRC for infiltrators. BJP leaders have expressed that those excluded from final NRC will lose their voting rights."

On Thursday, MoS Home G. Kishen Reddy assured the nation that the government is not hurriedly bringing in NRC and through its many FAQs publicised through PIB asserted that the link drawn between the two is unwarranted.

However, this old tweet of BJP was telling a different tale which is opposed to the government`s claim of today, in the wake of nationwide anti-CAA protests.

Interestingly, even as the government was out to de-link the two, BJP`s working President J.P. Nadda on Thursday claimed, "We have not only brought Citizenship Amendment Act, we will also bring (nationwide) NRC."

Taking note of the fact that the ruling party deleted its much talked about November tweet, Trinamool leader Derek o`Brien tweeted: "The BJP IT Cell can delete the tweet. But they can`t delete what the Home Minister told Parliament, "We will roll out the NRC in all states".

There has been a nationwide protest against the Citizenship Amendment Act and many see the outrage is less to do with the legislation and more to do with the NRC.