Days after the central government notified the Citizenship Amendment Act, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said that the law will never be taken back and the BJP-led government will never compromise with it.
In an interview to ANI, Amit Shah said, “This is our sovereign right to ensure Indian citizenship in our country, we will never compromise on it and CAA will never be taken back.”
Asked about the opposition INDIA bloc, specifically a Congress leader stating that they would repeal the law when they will come to power, the Home Minister said that even the opposition is aware it has bleak chances of coming to power.
“Even INDI alliance knows that it will not come into power. CAA has been brought by the BJP party, and the Narendra Modi-led government has brought it. It is impossible to repeal it. We will spread awareness about it in the whole nation so that those who want to repeal it do not get a place,” Shah said.
The union minister also dismissed criticism that the “CAA is unconstitutional” stating that it does not violate the constitutional provisions.
“They always talk about Article 14. They forget that there are two clauses in that Article. This law does not violate Article 14. There is a clear, reasonable classification here. This is a law for those who, due to partition, remained in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Bangladesh and were facing religious persecution and decided to come to India,” the Union Minister said.
Replying to the Opposition’s claim of the timing of bringing notification of CAA before the Lok Sabha elections, Amit Shah said, “First of all I will talk about the timing. All opposition parties including Rahul Gandhi, Mamata or Kejriwal are indulging in jhooth ki rajneeti (politics of lies) so the question of timing does not arise. BJP has 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.”
“Rules are now a formality. There is no question of timing, political gain or loss. Now, the Opposition wants to consolidate their vote bank by doing appeasement politics. I want to request them that they have been exposed.
CAA is the law for the entire country and I have reiterated nearly 41 times in four years that it will become a reality,” he said.
The Home Minister said that there is “no question of political gain as the main aim of the BJP is to provide rights and justice to persecuted minorities coming from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh.
“The opposition had even raised questions on surgical strike and the abrogation of Article 370 and linked it with political gain. So should we not take stern steps against terrorism? We have been saying since 1950 that we will withdraw Article 370” the Home Minister said.
“I have spoken on CAA at least 41 times on different platforms and spoken on it 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. The CAA aims to confer Indian citizenship to persecuted non-Muslim migrants–including Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists, Parsis, and Christians–who migrated from Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Afghanistan and arrived in India before December 31, 2014, and through this law, their sufferings can be ended” he added.
The Home Minister was critical of opposition leaders like AIMIM’s Asaddudin Owaisi and West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee for claiming that the CAA was anti-Muslim.
“You cannot see this law in isolation. On August 15, 1947, our country was partitioned. Our country was partitioned into three parts; this is the background. Bharatiya Jan Sangh and BJP were always against the Partition. We never wanted that 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. Now they started doing vote bank politics and due to appeasement,” Shah added.
The Home Minister said that it was the moral duty of the government to ensure the rights of those who were persecuted.
“The people who were part of Akhand Bharat and who were prosecuted or tortured those people should be given refuge in India and this is our social and Constitutional responsibility. Now if you look closely at the statistics, in Pakistan when the partition happened there were 23 per cent Hindus and Sikhs but now only 3.7 per cent of Hindus and Sikhs are left. where are they? They have not returned here. They were converted, tortured, and insulted they were given second-class status. Where will they go? Will the country will not think, Parliament will not think about them, and the political parties should not think about them?” the Home Minister said
“In Afghanistan, at the moment there are now only about 500 Hindus…don’t these people have right to live as per their beliefs. When Bharat was one, they were our brothers,” he added.
Slamming Delhi’s Chief Minister for his remarks that CAA will take away jobs meant for India’s youth, and can lead to an increase in crime, the Union Minister said that people who will benefit from the law are already in India.
“If they are so concerned why are they not talking about Bangladeshi infiltrators and Rohingyas because they are doing vote bank politics? Delhi elections are tough for them that’s why they are indulging in vote bank politics” he said.
Amit Shah also questioned West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee for alleging that citizenship of minorities would be taken away due to the CAA.
“I am requesting Mamata ji, that there are several platforms to do politics, but please don’t harm Bengali Hindus coming from Bangaldesh. I challenge Mamata publically to tell one such clause that has the provision of taking away citizenship of any Indian. Her intention is to create differences between Hindus and Muslims to consolidate vote bank. CAA has to be done. If she wants to anything stop infiltration, but she is not cooperating” Amit Shah said.
On March 11, the Union Home Ministry notified rules for the implementation of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).
The CAA, introduced by the Narendra Modi government and passed by Parliament in 2019, aims to confer Indian citizenship to persecuted non-Muslim migrants–including Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists, Parsis, and Christians–who migrated from Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Afghanistan and arrived in India before December 31, 2014.
