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Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Thursday slammed the Opposition Congress by accusing its leaders of doing appeasement politics while stating that the Centre will not roll back the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).
In an interview with ANI’s Smita Prakash, Shah said, "CAA law will never be taken back. It is our sovereign right to ensure Indian citizenship in our country, we will never compromise on it."
“All opposition parties including Owaisi, Rahul Gandhi, Arvind Kejriwal, Mamata Banerjee are doing politics of lies. There is no question of timing. BJP said in its manifesto in 2019 that it would bring CAA and give citizenship to refugees from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan...In 2019, it was passed by Parliament but got delayed due to Covid...The opposition wants to do appeasement politics and wants to consolidate their vote bank. They have been exposed and the people of the country know that CAA is the law of this country. I have said 41 times in the last 4 years that it would be implemented before the election," Shah told Prakash in the interview.
Speaking about Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee's remark on CAA notification, Shah said, “The day is not far, when BJP will come to power there (West Bengal) and will stop infiltration. If you do this kind of politics and with such an important national security issue, you allow infiltration by doing appeasement politics and oppose the refugees from getting citizenship, then people will not be with you. Mamata Banerjee does not know the difference between a person taking refuge and an infiltrator."
Shah also targeted Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal who had said giving citizenship to refugees will increase thefts and rapes. the Union Home Minister said, "The Delhi CM has lost his calm (aapa kho baithe hai) after his corruption was exposed. He does not know that all these people have already come and are living in India. If he is so concerned, then why doesn't he talk about Bangladeshi infiltrators or oppose the Rohingyas? He is doing vote bank politics... He has forgotten the background of partition and should meet the refugee families...”
"The people who were part of Akhand Bharat and who were persecuted or tortured should be given refuge in India and this is our moral and constitutional responsibility. When the partition happened there were 23% Hindus and Sikhs in Pakistan but now only 3.7% of them are left. Where have they all gone? They have not returned here. They were converted, insulted, given second-class status. Where will they go? Will the Parliament not think about them? If I speak about Bangladesh, in 1951, the Hindu population was 22% but now as per the statistics, the Hindu population has been reduced to 10% in 2011. Where are they?" he added.
Shah reiterated there is no need for minorities or any other person to fear because there is no provision in CAA to take away anyone's citizenship. “CAA is only to give rights and citizenship to Hindus, Buddhists, Jains, Sikhs, Christians and Parsi refugees from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan," he said.
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The Citizenship Amendment Act, notified on Monday, endeavors to offer Indian citizenship to persecuted non-Muslim migrants. This includes Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists, Parsis, and Christians who migrated from Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Afghanistan and arrived in India before December 31, 2014. The rules now provide a framework for the application process for those eligible under CAA-2019.
