The BJP on March 13 accused the Opposition parties of stoking communal passion by speaking "lies" about the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA), as the Modi government came under attack over its implementation.
Former Union Minister and BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad hit out at the Opposition leaders including Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee for their fierce criticism of the law and maintained that it takes away no Indian's citizenship or job.
“The Aam Aadmi Party leader has made a very strange statement,” he said in reference to Mr. Kejriwal’s claim that the BJP government at the Centre can’t provide jobs to Indians but wants to give them to those coming from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh.
Asserting that the law is for those minorities who were persecuted in the three countries because of their religious faith, Mr. Prasad said these people have been living a tough life in India and asked if the country is not morally, culturally and constitutionally right in granting them citizenship.
“Home Minister Amit Shah has made it clear that the CAA is about granting citizenship and takes away no one’s citizenship,” he said. “Why are Opposition parties spreading this propaganda,” he said, alleging that they would stand in support of Rohingyas.
“I will ask those stoking communal passion in the name of the CAA that they should stop spreading lies about it,” he said. “Ms. Banerjee is on a slippery ground and it is forcing her to give the issue a communal colour,” Mr. Prasad claimed.
He also urged the parties in south India, “especially in Kerala and Tamil Nadu”, to stop spreading hatred based on falsehood. He claimed that the critics have no reasoned argument against the law. “Political base of all of them is sinking,” he said in a swipe at the Opposition parties.
“India as a country due to its civilisational heritage and constitutional obligation has given the persecuted minorities from the three countries protection under the CAA,” he said.
The former Law Minister also dismissed the assertion of some States ruled by other parties that they will not implement the Act, saying it is a Central law and is required to be implemented.
Mr. Kejriwal earlier said the implementation of the Citizenship Amendment Act ahead of the Lok Sabha polls was a "dirty vote bank politics" of the BJP and asserted that people want this law to be repealed.
With this law, the BJP-led government at the Centre has opened the floodgates for the arrival of a large number of poor minorities from Pakistan and Bangladesh into India, he said at a press conference.
Banerjee and the ruling Left in Kerala and the DMK in Tamil Nadu have also come out strongly against the law after the Union home ministry on Monday notified its rules, paving the way for its implementation.
