Prashant Kishor gets Nitish's backing on NRC, Citizenship Act

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar is not in favour of National Register of Citizens (NRC), and has reservations against the Citizenship Amendment Act, said his deputy in Janata Dal (United), Prashant Kishor.

“He (Nitish Kumar) said that we are not in favour of National Register of Citizens (NRC). There is no problem per se with the Citizenship Amendment Act, but it becomes discriminatory when combined with NRC.”

Janata Dal-United (JDU) Vice President Prashant Kishor after meeting Bihar CM in Patna: He said that we are not in favour of National Register of Citizens (NRC). There is no problem per se with #CitizenshipAmendmentAct, but it becomes discriminatory when combined with NRC. https://t.co/0eeFZQ5C3C

— ANI (@ANI) December 14, 2019

This came after Kishor met Kumar in the wake of the former’s criticism against his party for voting in favour of the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill in the Rajya Sabha.

Disappointed to see JDU supporting #CAB that discriminates right of citizenship on the basis of religion.

It's incongruous with the party's constitution that carries the word secular thrice on the very first page and the leadership that is supposedly guided by Gandhian ideals.

— Prashant Kishor (@PrashantKishor) December 9, 2019

After the bill was passed in Parliament, Kishor had taken an anti-BJP stance, saying that the task of “saving the soul of India” is on the 16 non-BJP chief ministers of states since it was the states who had to “operationalise these acts.”

The majority prevailed in Parliament. Now beyond judiciary, the task of saving the soul of India is on 16 Non-BJP CMs as it is the states who have to operationalise these acts.

3 CMs (Punjab/Kerala/WB) have said NO to #CAB and #NRC. Time for others to make their stand clear.

— Prashant Kishor (@PrashantKishor) December 13, 2019

His comments had triggered speculations that Kishor was going to resign from the party. When asked, he said that he would speak further only after his meeting with the CM.

JD(U) is in power in Bihar in coalition with the BJP, after Nitish Kumar had broken up with the RJD earlier.

Two leaders from the party hit out at Kishor for his comments on Twitter. JD(U) MP Ram Chandra Prasad Singh said on Saturday, “I will not name anyone but if somebody has a problem, he is free to leave the party.”

Another MP, Rajiv Ranjan said, “If the party chief (Nitish Kumar) has taken a decision, then there is no question of going back.”

State minister Ashok Chaudhary said, “Prashant Kishor is not a politician but an election strategist. We know that he is currently working for Mamata Banerjee. All this is being done keeping West Bengal in mind,” he said.