JD(U) national secretary Pavan K. Varma has said that he is “deeply perplexed” by the party’s alliance with the BJP for the Delhi Assembly election and sought “ideological clarity” on the development.
Varma, who has been opposing the Citizenship (Amendment) Act and the National Register of Citizens, wrote a letter to JD(U) chief and Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar on Tuesday, expressing his displeasure over JD(U)’s move to contest the polls with the BJP.
In the letter addressed to the Bihar chief minister, which was made public on Twitter, the former Rajya Sabha MP said that Kumar had expressed his “grave apprehensions” about the RSS-BJP combine.
This is the letter I have written to @NitishKumar today asking him how the JD(U) has formed an alliance with the BJP for the Delhi elections, given his own views on the BJP, and the massive national outrage against the divisive CAA-NPR-NRC scheme. pic.twitter.com/ErSynnuiYm
— Pavan K. Varma (@PavanK_Varma) January 21, 2020
“On more than one occasion, you have expressed your grave apprehensions about the BJP-RSS combine. In my first meeting with you in Patna in 2012, even before I had formally resigned from the IFS, you had spoken to me at length and with conviction on why Narendra Modi and his policies are inimical for the country,” the letter stated.
Varma further said that even after Kumar realigned with the BJP, his “private apprehensions” regarding the BJP did not change.
“You maintained, on more than one occasion, that the BJP is leading India into a ‘dangerous space’…there is a need for democratic and socialist forces within the country to regroup,” Varma said, adding that Kumar assigned a senior leader for the task.
Varma said that he cannot understand why the JD(U) is extending its alliance with the BJP beyond Bihar, especially when the ruling party at the Centre has embarked on a “massive socially divisive agenda” through the NRC-CAA combine that would harm the peace in the country.
He cited that BJP’s allies have refused to support the NRC and the CAA. BJP’s long-term ally, Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), and Ram Vilas Paswan’s Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) have strongly opposed the contentious law.
Varma had urged Kumar a few times to oppose the CAA. In a tweet dated December 10, 2010, Varma wrote: “I urge Shri Nitish Kumar to reconsider support to the #CAB in the Rajya Sabha. The Bill is unconstitutional, discriminatory, and against the unity and harmony of the country, apart from being against the secular principles of the JDU. Gandhiji would have strongly disapproved it.”
I urge Shri Nitish Kumar to reconsider support to the #CAB in the Rajya Sabha. The Bill is unconstitutional, discriminatory, and against the unity and harmony of the country, apart from being against the secular principles of the JDU. Gandhiji would have strongly disapproved it.
— Pavan K. Varma (@PavanK_Varma) December 10, 2019
In another letter, Varma wrote: '...in consonance with your own publicly stated views, and long established secular vision, may I request you now to take a principled stand against the CAA-NPR-NRC scheme, and reject its nefarious agenda to divide India and create a great deal of unnecessary social turbulence.'
I have written to Shri Nitish Kumar today against the unilateral announcement by Deputy CM Sushil Modi that NPR will be implemented in Bihar in May 2020. Have requested Nitish ji to categorically reject the CAA-NPR-NRC divisive scheme. pic.twitter.com/FRpiAKYdap
— Pavan K. Varma (@PavanK_Varma) January 5, 2020
The JD(U) national secretary had also offered his resignation but it was not accepted by Kumar.
Facing flak from the Opposition as well as a few party leaders over NRC-CAA-NPR combine, Kumar had on January 14, 2020, called for a debate on CAA and NPR, while terming NRC as “needless.”
In the letter, Varma said he was looking forward to some “ideological clarity” from Kumar.
“I look forward to receiving some ideological clarity from you, either in a formal meeting of the JD(U), or through such means as you consider best.”
