Jharkhand, Jan 03, TEN Network | Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Thursday said the government will not budge an inch on its decision to implement the Citizenship Amendment Act despite the opposition criticism of the law.
Launching an ‘awareness program‘ in support of the amended citizenship law, Shah accused the Congress and other opposition parties of running a misinformation campaign.
He said the amended law does not take away Indian citizenship from anyone but grants citizenship.
Opposition parties have criticized the amendment which allows non-Muslims an easier path to citizenship if they have come to India from three neighboring countries before 2015 after facing religious persecution.
Shah accused the Congress of playing vote-bank politics by spreading misinformation.
Meanwhile, the strategic decision of the BJP to hold the rally in Jodhpur is because it hosts thousands of Pakistani Hindu migrants who are living here in tough conditions for years awaiting their citizenship in India.
Earlier, it was decided to hold the rally in Jaipur, however, senior BJP leaders opted for Jodhpur as it has over 20,000 Hindu migrants from Pakistan who will also be participating in this rally. This is the second rally of Shah being organised to support CAA as the first rally was organised in Kolkata. 30 such rallies are to be addressed by Shah to make people aware of the CAA.
As Gehlot has been openly announcing in his programmes that CAA and NRC shall not be implemented in Rajasthan, he has been on the radar of the top BJP central leadership too.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Shah both have been attacking Gehlot referring to a letter he sent to the then Home Minister P. Chidambaram in which he himself had requested for granting citizenship to Hindu and Sikh migrants from Pakistan.
While Modi quipped that Congress leaders, who once were supporting the citizenship cause for migrants from Pakistan, are now taking a u-turn, Shah also targeted him in Rajya Sabha saying “we are giving citizenship to six communities while Gehlot had requested citizenship for only two communities namely Sikhs and Hindus during the UPA tenure.” (NIE)
