Amidst the widespread protests over the CAA, the Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a mega rally to begin the campaigning for the upcoming Delhi Assembly Elections and to defend the recently passed Citizenship Amendment Act. He appealed to the youth to read the Act in detail and called for peace. He asked people to “not fall prey to the rumours being spread by ‘Urban Naxals’ and Congress.”
Crux of the Matter
The PM reiterated that the Act will only apply to the people who’ve been living in India for several years now. No new refugee will benefit from the Citizenship Amendment Act.
He reassured the Muslim community by saying, “The Muslims of India don’t need to worry at all. The CAB and the NRC will not apply to the Muslims of the country. It’s a white lie.”
He also asserted that CAA and NRC have nothing to do with Indian Muslims and appealed to not trust in the widespread rumours.
The PM in his speech said that there are no detention centres in India and also clarified that no Muslim is being sent to detention centres, nor are there any detention centres in India.
In a reply to this comment, the Congress tweeted three reports quoting Home Ministry’s reply in the parliament on detention centres in Assam.
The PM accused the opposition of pursuing ‘divide and rule politics’ and promoting violence over the law.
The PM strongly defended the law by saying, “The law is about giving rights to persecuted minorities from neighbouring countries and does not snatch anybody’s rights.”
Launching a fierce attack on the opposition the PM said, “Mahatma Gandhi had said that the Sikhs & Hindus living in Pakistan will always be welcome in India and now that we’re fulfilling the decades-old promise, why is the opposition protesting against it.”
He also reminded that Former PM Manmohan Singh in the parliament had asked to provide citizenship to the refugees who have been religiously persecuted.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee claimed that the PM has publicly contradicted the home minister’s stand on the implementation of NRC. The PM blamed the West Bengal government for taking part in ‘vote-bank politics’
NCP leader Sharad Pawar said, ” I am surprised by PM’s comment that NRC was not discussed in the parliament whereas the President himself mentioned NRC in the joint address to the parliament.
Curiopedia
The Citizenship Amendment Bill was introduced in Lok Sabha on July 19, 2016. It was referred to the Joint Parliamentary Committee on August 12, 2016. The Committee submitted its report on January 7, 2019. It was passed by Lok Sabha on 8 January 2019. It lapsed with the dissolution of the 16th Lok Sabha. The Bharatiya Janata Party had promised to grant citizenship to Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan but not Muslims. In the party’s election manifesto in 2014, the BJP had promised to welcome Hindu refugees and give shelter to them. More Info
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