Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi. (File) Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi. (File)

Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi speaks to The Indian Express on the future of the NDA alliance in the state and the BJP’s strategy ahead of the Assembly polls

How do you see the protests against the CAA, NRC and NPR in almost 20 Bihar districts?

It is nothing but a bid by the Opposition to create confusion… They must remember that the more there is an attempt to polarise through anti-CAA protests, the more counter-polarisation will follow and BJP will get stronger. There have been pro-CAA gatherings….But media is not giving due space to them.

But isn’t the BJP concerned about the growing presence of poor and Dalits in anti-CAA protests ahead of Assembly polls due later this year?

Over 99 per cent people attending the meetings are from one community. We don’t see many poor and Dalits joining them.

Even though the PM has clarified that there would be no NRC, apprehensions about NPR being the first step to NRC seem to persist.

When our supreme leader has said NRC won’t be implemented, the matter rests there. We have said several times that NPR was introduced during UPA rule and its data are used only for Census. It is not mandatory to answer questions asked in NPR.

Did you anticipate such protests against CAA?

No. We did not. Maybe we were not able to convince people. Also, Opposition parties started working overtime to spread lies. But we have seen bigger protests against triple talaq and it finally came through. People are slowly realising the truth about CAA…

LJP leader Ram Vilas Paswan has expressed reservations towards the question about parents’ birthplace for NPR

Let us reiterate that it is not mandatory to respond to the questions in the NPR process. Paswanji has supported the NPR process whole-heartedly…

How do you react to JD (U) leader Pavan K Varma revealing contents of his private conversation with CM Nitish Kumar on the latter’s take on RSS?

Nitish has been with us since 1996 and we have now worked in the Bihar government for over 12 years. He knows BJP very well. Varma is doing his own politics…Nitishji has responded… Our alliance is unbreakable.

How about Prashant Kishor targeting BJP, especially you?

I do not need to react to it.

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