'Two local body leaders in Maharashtra have been suspended by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for taking a stand against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) that has triggered massive protests across the country. Vinod Borade, the chairperson of Parbhani-based Selu Municipal Council, and Balasaheb Rokade, Palam Municipal Council's deputy chairperson, were suspended after the two local bodies passed resolutions against the CAA...'
'A Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) councillor and former chief of Minority cell has resigned from party membership in Indore on Saturday in protest against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). Councilor Usman Patel from Khajrana area in the city of Indore has submitted his resignation to BJP's city president Gopikrishna. He said that they oppose the CAA, NRC and NPR and he has resigned in protest against it...'
'The voice of dissent is growing louder within the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Madhya Pradesh against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), the National Register of Citizens (NRC) and the Nation Population Register (NPR). On Thursday, as many as 700 party workers resigned en masse from the party in Jabalpur. Workers, as well as senior functionaries of the BJP’s unit in the district including its head and former chancellors left the party to register their disapproval against the CAA, the NRC and the NPR. All workers were from the Minority Cell of the BJP...'
'Even as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has launched a door-to-door campaign in Madhya Pradesh to drum up support for the Citizenship Amendment Act 2019 (CAA) and the National Population Register (NPR), it has been unable to quell discontent brewing among its own workers. The anger was apparent when two senior office-bearers of the Madhya Pradesh BJP Minority Cell resigned from the party in protest against CAA-NPR-NRC. Now, many of their colleagues have decided to follow suit and plan to hold a meeting on January 11 to discuss ‘en masse’ resignations from the party.
' On 27 December, members of the minority morcha of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Maharashtra held a press conference in Latur. Its district chief, Afzal Khan, and former mayor Akhtar Shaikh released the following statement at the event: “The Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) and the proposed National Register of Citizens (NRC) are against the Constitution and against the Muslims. There’s injustice happening to our community.
'...Even the Bharatiya Janata Party’s own allies have expressed reservations about its willingness to bring in this divisive law, and follow it up with an NRC process that many fear will be a tool to harass Muslims... The Asom Gana Parishad, the BJP’s chief partner in Assam, after voting for the Act in Parliament, has done a u-turn and will now not only oppose it but is also party to the legal challenge against the law in the Supreme Court.
'Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS), the national trade union affiliated to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) has come out against the government’s labour reforms, saying the proposed law against the interest of workers. The government tabled the Industrial Relations Code, 2019 in the Parliament on Thursday. The Bill seeks to offer a slew of benefits to industries by curtailing compliance burden as well as employee benefits.
'Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday defended his party’s decision to field Pragya Singh Thakur as its candidate from Bhopal, saying it was a symbolic response to those who falsely labelled the glorious Hindu civilisation as “terrorist”. Modi accused the Congress party for creating “false narratives” on saffron terror. However, there was a time when the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the ideological parent of Modi’s party, had tried to distance itself from the “activities” of Lt Col Prasad Srikant Purohit and his associates, which included Thakur.
'Bihar has meshed into London, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi under fire from both ends. Protests against his visit have taken over the headlines in London, while the dissidents led by the old guard blaming him and BJP president Amit Shah directly for the defeat, have occupied the media spotlights at home. The Bihar defeat has impacted on the UK visit with the British media joining the world in highlighting this, and recalling the Hindutva generated violence, and PM Modi’s own Gujarat record.
'The Advani-Vajpayee years of leading the NDA coalition offer significant memories of how the duo outmanoeuvred the RSS and K Sudarshan, the then chief of the BJP's ideological parent, the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh or RSS. Despite knowing Advani's ambition of becoming Prime Minister, the Sangh chose a man with a liberal face for the top job while Advani was left to play second fiddle; the RSS wanted the duality to exist for the sake of balancing its own power game.
