News Brief
No Rollback On CAA, Law Essential for Persecuted Non-Muslim Migrants From Pakistan, Bangladesh And Afghanistan: Amit Shah
Union Home Minister Amit Shah.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah has defended the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), stating it does not target Muslims and criticised opposition parties for spreading misinformation.
Shah clarified that the CAA aims to provide citizenship to persecuted non-Muslim migrants from Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Afghanistan who arrived in India before 31 December 2014.
He assured that Muslims can still apply for citizenship under existing constitutional rules and emphasised that the law will not be rolled back despite protests.
"I have spoken on CAA at least 41 times on different platforms and spoken in detail that the minorities of the country need not be afraid because it has no provision to take back the rights of any citizen," Shah said in an interview with news agency ANI.
Asked if the government may rethink its decision to implement the CAA if protests begin, Shah said, "CAA will never be rolled back."
The Home Minister also slammed the Opposition for targeting its decision to implement the law.
Asked about a Congress leader's remark stating that they would roll back CAA when they come to power, he said, "Even INDI alliance knows that it will not come to power. CAA has been brought by the BJP, and the Narendra Modi-led government has brought it. It is impossible to repeal it. We will spread awareness across the nation so that those who want to repeal it do not get a place".
Shah accused the opposition of engaging in politics of lies and stated that the law is constitutional, arguing it addresses the needs of those persecuted due to the partition.
He also countered the Opposition's attack on the timing of implementing the law, noting it was a part of the BJP's 2019 election manifesto and has been passed by both houses of Parliament.
"All Opposition leaders, including Rahul Gandhi, Mamata Banerjee or Arvind Kejriwal, are indulging in jhooth ki rajneeti (politics of lies), so the question of timing does not arise. BJP made it clear in its 2019 manifesto that it will bring CAA and provide Indian citizenship to refugees (from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan). BJP has a clear agenda and under that promise, the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill was passed in both houses of Parliament in 2019. It got delayed due to Covid. BJP had cleared its agenda well before the party got its mandate in the polls," he said.
Shah said notifying the rules was a formality, so there is no question of timing or political gain or loss.
"Now, the Opposition wants to consolidate their vote bank by doing appeasement politics," he said.
The Home Minister said the Opposition had raised questions on 2016 surgical strikes and the revocation of Jammu and Kashmir's special status.
"So should we not take stern steps against terrorism? We have been saying since 1950 that we will withdraw Article 370," he said.
"You cannot see this law in isolation. On August 15, 1947, our country was partitioned into three parts. This is the background. Bharatiya Jan Sangh and BJP were always against the Partition. We never wanted the country to be partitioned based on religion," he said.
"So when the country was partitioned on the basis of religion, minorities faced persecution, they were being converted, women in the minority section were being tortured and came to India. They came to our refuge; don't they have a right to get our citizenship? Even Congress leaders during the partition in their speeches said that those minorities should stay wherever they are due to the widespread bloodshed and they will be welcomed later in our country. Then they started doing vote bank politics for appeasement," he said.
Hitting back at the Trinamool Congress chief, who has alleged that the citizenship of minorities would be taken away through CAA, Mr Shah said.
He challenged Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee, to prove how the CAA would strip Indian citizens of their citizenship, accusing her of trying to create division between Hindus and Muslims to consolidate vote bank.
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