'Two-Nation Theory' very close to complete vindication: Shashi Tharoor

Senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Sunday said that if the Modi-led government in India pursues implementing National Population Register (NPR) and the National Register of Citizens (NRC) after the controversial Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), then it would be a “complete victory” for Pakistan's founding father Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah.

According to Indian publication The New Indian Express, the lawmaker said Jinnah's idea of a separate country for Muslims was already winning after the CAA came into effect. However, he clarified that India still had a choice to correct its path.

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"I would not say Jinnah has completely won, but I would say Jinnah is winning. There is still a choice available to the nation between Jinnah's idea of a country and Gandhiji's idea of a country," Tharoor said on the sidelines of the Jaipur Literature Festival.

Tharoor said, according to the publication, the CAA took Jinnah's logic by declaring that religion shall be the basis of nationhood, reaffirming that Gandhi's idea is that all religions are equal.

"The CAA is, if you are talking Tennis, you would say one set up or big first set lead for Jinnah. But the next step would be if the CAA would lead to the National Population Register (NPR) and the National Register of Citizens (NRC). If that happens, then you would consider that Jinnah's victory is complete," said Tharoor.

Under the NPR, the BJP led government is authorising enumerators to question an individual if he holds a dubious citizenship.

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“If we go around this country authorising people to interview all the citizens or identify some who have 'dubious citizenship', you can be pretty sure which Indians are going to be found on the 'dubious citizenship',” said the Congress leader.

"That will principally be one community that is not mentioned in the CAA. And if that happens, then it is indeed Jinnah's victory."

"From wherever he is, he can point to this place and say, 'see I was right in 1940. We are separate nations and Muslims deserved their own country because Hindus cannot be just'," Tharoor said.

India has been rocked by protests against the controversial citizenship law introduced by the Modi-led government at the backend of 2019. For many analysts, the protests have become a major challenge for the Indian government.

The law, which offers fast-track citizenship to non-Muslim nationals from three neighbouring countries, is the latest policy instituted by Modi's government that critics accuse of marginalising Muslims in the Hindu-majority nation.