According to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Indian National Congress (INC) is supporting the protest against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act [CAA,] 2019 because they are willing to give citizenship to Pakistanis.
On the 17th of December, Mr. Modi addressed a public rally in Berhait, Jharkhand and said, “I want to throw an open challenge to the Congress and its allies. If they (Congress and its allies) have the guts, they should openly announce that they are ready to grant Indian citizenship to every Pakistani citizen. Then the country will make them pay… Not just that. If they have the courage, let them say they will restore Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir that Modi removed.”
Mr. Modi also accused the INC of spreading hatred and false fears amongst the Muslim citizens of India. He said, “We brought the Citizenship (Amendment) Act and now they are again into white lies. The CAA will not affect any citizen of the Country.” Emphasising on the effect of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act on Indians, Modi said, “I repeat, no citizen of the Country will be affected by this law. The law we made is for minorities in neighbouring countries who are persecuted.”
The Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019, introduced by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP,) promises citizenship to refugees fleeing from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan. The Act includes refugees who are Hindus, Jains, Parsis, Buddhists, Christians and Sikhs and have been residing in India since or before the 31st of December, 2014.
Mr. Modi took a sharp attack on the INC leaders and said, “How is any Indian Muslim’s or any other Indian citizen’s right being violated? Why are you lying? Why are you spreading lies? Congress and its friends are trying to scare Muslims with this topic to cook their political khichdi. Because of Congress’s divide and rule policy, the Nation has already been divided once. The Country has been broken into pieces before. The way they let lakhs of infiltrators enter India and used them as their vote bank.”
The Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 created a tense situation across India. People are protesting against the Act on the grounds it violates a salient feature of the Indian Constitution—secularism.
Despite the damage to property and the loss of lives, neither the people of India nor the Central Government is planning to back off.
The major regions where violent protests are continuing include Assam, the Jamia Millia Islamia (JMI) university in Delhi, the University of Delhi, the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) in Uttar Pradesh and other cities like Hyderabad, Lucknow.
Speaking about the protests and misbehaviour of the Delhi Police with the JMI Students, Mr. Modi said, “You should understand your importance and institutions…govt decisions should be discussed and should raise their voice in a democratic manner….this govt understands your concerns….but they need to understand don’t let some ‘urban Naxals’ to use your shoulder for firing a gun.”
Meanwhile, in Assam, on the 17th of December, the death toll increased to 4 as people were killed in an open fire by the Assam Police during protests.
The protests are underway.
Stay tuned for further updates.
