Union Minister Amit Shah announced today in Lucknow that the Citizenship Amendment Act will not be withdrawn at any cost .
Amit Shah said: “Let me say this here and now, this law will not be withdrawn, no matter who protests… We are not scared of opposition, we were born in it.”
Amit Shah accused the Congress and the Samajwadi Party of spreading lies about the law. “Mamata didi, Akhilesh-ji, Mayawati-ji, I dare you to a debate on the Citizenship Act anywhere in the country… I dare you to show me any clause in the bill that talks about taking away any one’s citizenship,” he said.
The BJP claims that the protests against the CAA are fallout of misinformation spread by the opposition. Mr Shah also accused the Congress of making such a law necessary – first through partition and then through inaction because of votebank politics.
“For 10 years the UPA government was there, and from Pakistan, Aalia, Malia, Jamalia used to come here and carry out terror attacks. Manmohan Singh or mauni baba did not say a word against it. It is because of your people from Uttar Pradesh that Modi-ji got a two-thirds majority government,” he said.
Uttar Pradesh has seen some of the most violent protests over the citizenship law – in the first weeks after the law was passed in parliament, 20 people from the state had died in clashes with the police. The police have denied opening fire, though some of the protesters were seen to have bullet injuries.
Meanwhile The Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPIM) has announced that it will conduct door-to-door campaigns across India to explain how the National Register of Citizens (NRC), the National Population Register (NPR), and the Citizenship Amendment Act are connected.
Aside from extending full support to the ongoing anti-government agitations and actively participating in all protests against the CAA, NRC and NPR, the leftist party has also decided to embark on a mission to make sure those who have rejected the NRC and CAA, do not answer questions related to NPR either.
