BJP’s Rahul Sinha attacks Pranab Mukherjee for praising students’ marches, others attack Sinha

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) national secretary Rahul Sinha on Friday criticised former President of India Pranab Mukherjee’s observations that the ongoing largely peaceful protests will help deepen the country’s democratic roots.

While Mukherjee did not mention which protests these were, it is being assumed that he was perhaps mentioning the protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), National Register of Citizens (NRC) and the National Population Register (NRC).  Sinha said that the instances of violence witnessed in West Bengal in which rail tracks were uprooted could not in any way symbolise democracy.

Mukherjee, while speaking at a memorial lecture at Election Commission in New Delhi on Thursday had said that the young people over the past few months have come out on the streets in large numbers and voiced their opinions on matters “which in their view are important”. Democracy thrives on listening, deliberating, discussing, arguing and dissent, Mukherjee said in his Twitter handle.

Referring to this remark, Sinha said, “there is no place for anti-national remarks in the language of democracy.” Referring to the protests by students on the CAA-NRC issue across the country, he added, “Anyone can take to the streets to put up protests, but sacrificing your studies and only taking to the streets cannot be the right path.”

Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader Mohammed Salim retalitiated to Sinha’s comments saying those who study also know how to question. Congress leader and Rajya Sabha MP Pradeep Bhattacharya refuted Sinha’s comments saying that Mukherjee did not call for violent protests, rather he had appreciated the peaceful protests.

Bhattacharya expressed hope that the BJP government will perhaps rethink their strategy in handling the outbreak of protests across the country. The Centre has been frequently criticised by people, Opposition political parties, media and eminent personalities for cracking down on the protesters by resorting to oppressive measures.

Trinamool Congress’ general secretary Partha Chatterjee said that the BJP governement at the Centre should learn from what Mukherjee has said.