Hours after Prime Minister Narendra Modi denied that his government had made a declaration of a nationwide National Register Of Citizens(NRC), the BJP on its Twitter handle released their first video as a part of their minority outreach programme over the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).
देश के सभी मुसलमान भाई-बहनों से अपील है कि पहले खुद नागरिकता संशोधन अधिनियम को समझें और फिर दूसरों को भी समझाएं।
नहीं तो झूठ और भ्रम फैलाने वाले राजनीतिक दल अपने वोट बैंक के स्वार्थ के लिए हमें आपस में यूँ ही लड़ाते रहेंगे।
अफवाहों से बचें और सच जानें… pic.twitter.com/xbPQ9PXy6n
— BJP (@BJP4India) December 22, 2019
On 24th December, #CoolBano and #FoolNahi were trending on Twitter. What can be called propaganda, they were short clips featuring privileged millennials who supported the new act and one even questions the ‘Indianness’ of people if CAA makes them anxiously protest.
सही पकड़े है#Coolbano#FoolNahi pic.twitter.com/9X0RVvdvY1
— Komal Vashisht (@KomalVashisht2) December 24, 2019
C for Congresi मत बनो दोस्तों
अपनी अकल लगाओ#CoolBano #FoolNahi pic.twitter.com/pjZQmONrSz— Kapil Mishra (@KapilMishra_IND) December 24, 2019
These series of videos, featuring the same music score, repeated PM Modi’s Ramlila Maidan narrative that conducting a nationwide NRC was never the intention of his government.
However, Amit Shah in several speeches had declared his intention to ‘throw termites out’ and to provide citizenship to Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists, Christians, and Parsis.
#CoolBano #FoolNahi pic.twitter.com/6cGMBJpNuv
— Piyush Goyal (@PiyushGoyal) December 24, 2019
Cool बनो
Fool नहीं pic.twitter.com/UlsnAFFNR7— Kapil Mishra (@KapilMishra_IND) December 24, 2019
In one of the videos, the animated characters are visibly ‘Muslim’ as they are designed with traditional festive attire. The two on-screen figures can be found discussing the CAA and NRC protests.
They are also seen discussing the legislation before concluding that the country can only progress if there is “peace and brotherhood” and allege that protestors all over are carrying out rallies at the behest of opposition parties.
“Congress… CPI(M)…. anya party apni rajnetik roti sekne ke liye hum Musalmaano ko bhadka rahe hai(Congress, CPI(M), and other parties are provoking Muslims to benefit politically)!“, one of the protestors exclaims in understanding as his fellow Muslim ‘bhaijaan‘ explains how NRC and CAA will not affect the Indian Muslim community.
In the series of Hindi videos, the millennial-looking actors are prescribing a good reading of the ‘official documents’ to all the opposers of the law, presuming that they have not done so already.
These videos keep repeating that there has been no law over NRC made, forgetting that Assam just saw 19 lakh people declared foreigners through the same process.
Also Read: Did PM Modi Lie About NRC, Detention Centres In His Speech At Ramlila?