Narendra Modi's latest comments on NRC a 'pause, not a full stop', says JD(U) vice-president Prashant Kishor

JD(U) vice-president Prashant Kishor, an outspoken critic of the Citizenship Amendment Act and the proposed implementation of nation-wide National Register of Citizens (NRC) said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent comments indicating a ‘step-back’ on NRC is a “pause and not a full stop.” “The claim of ‘Abhi toh NRC ki koi charcha hi nahi hui hain’ is nothing but a tactical retreat in the face of the nationwide protest against #CAA_NRC. It is a pause and not the full stop,” Kishor wrote on Twitter on Thursday.

The political strategist who devised and implemented the election-winning campaign strategy for the BJP in 2014, and later joined  Nitish Kumar's JD(U) , was referring to statement made by the prime minister during a massive rally at Delhi’s Ramlila Maidan, where he had said that no rules had been framed so far for a country-wide NRC and the exercise was carried out in Assam on Supreme Court’s orders. Meanwhile, this also comes amid reports of discontent brewing between Nitish and Kishor , who is also the JD(U) vice president, over the party’s stance on the Citizenship Amendment Act. While the JD(U) voted in favour of the Bill in the Lok Sabha as well in the Rajya Sabha, Kishor declared that he was “not giving up” his opposition to the legislation while his party’s Muslim MLAs and MLCs still seek an audience with the Bihar chief minister who heads the party and apprise him of their anxieties. Despite being a member of NDA ally JD(U), Kishor has never shied away from helping rival parties in election campaign while maintaining his position in the party. He has sought to distance his political consultancy firm’s dealings with the politics of NDA and JD(U). Currently, his firm is advising Mamata Banerjee’s All India Trinamool Congress for the Weste Bengal elections due next year, and Arvind Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party in New Delhi. Both these parties are arch NDA rivals.