The opposition parties have led a high decibel misinformation campaign on the Citizenship Amendment Act. Home Minister Amit Shah in an interview with India Today journalist Rahul Kanwal bust every myth over the CAA and reassured that CAA won’t be repealed and no Indian citizen has anything to worry about.
Rahul Kanwal started the interview by grilling the Home Minister over the recent protests by the students across the country. Amit Shah retorted sharply that there are approximately 224 universities in the country and out of which only 22 universities have witnessed some protests and only 4 universities with the likes of JMI and AMU witnessing a high level of protests. Shah made it clear that students from a select group of universities do not represent the views of the students from the entire country. Shah also allayed the fears over CAA as he said that citizenship of any Indian citizen is not going to go through the citizenship law, irrespective of their religion. He said, “I want to say to all the minority brothers and sisters of the country that this act is not going to harm you even a little bit because no citizenship is lost by one act. The act only has the right to grant citizenship and when if there is a law to give citizenship to anyone, be it Muslim or Hindu, there is no need to fear citizenship.”
The opposition ruled states have refused to implement the CAA with Chattisgarh CM Bhupesh Baghel going a step ahead and stated that he will not fill any form to prove his citizenship. Shah hit out at the Opposition Chief Ministers and reminded them that they have no option but to implement the CAA as the issue of citizenship doesn’t fall under their ambit and they are constitutionally required to abide by the law which has been passed by both the houses of the Parliament. Amit Shah also hit out at the opposition parties for instigating protests and violent mob. He lashed out at the opposition parties, including the Congress, and said that the entire opposition is uniting and spreading rumours on the Citizenship Amendment Act.
In a sharp retort to the massive disinformation campaign against the CAA and the NRC, the Home Minister said that there will be no action based on religion in NRC and whoever is not found to be a citizen of this country under NRC, all will be evicted and taken out of the country. He said that NRC is not just for Muslims. Amit Shah further said that the partition of the country should not have been done on the basis of religion, but the Congress surrendered on the demand of partition and this country was divided on the basis of religion. He said that had the country not been divided on the basis of religion, then this bill wouldn’t have been needed.
The Home Minister also addressed the bull by taking on those who condemned the police for their actions to quell the protests inside the Jamia campus. He said that the stone pelting had started from the campus and action had to be taken to prevent further violence. He also said that if the police does not take any steps to stop the violence, then in our eyes, it is not doing its duty properly.
The protests against the CAA have one thing in common: most of the students who have participated haven’t even read the bill are victims of a high decibel misinformation campaign. Amit Shah urged the students to first read the bill in detail before protesting against it and after studying the bill, if there are any problems with the bill, the government would be more than happy to address their concerns.
Amit Shah took Congress to the cleaners over the NRC as he served a reminder to the party that it was Rajiv Gandhi who first mooted the idea of NRC in Assam. The Home Minister said that when the Nehru-Liaquat Ali agreement was not followed in Pakistan, it was our responsibility to give shelter to the minorities there. The Congress forced these people to live the life of hell for 70 years. India is well within its rights to give shelter to the persecuted minorities. Home Minister Amit Shah also asked the Congress a big question during the discussion. He said that today he wants to ask the Congress leaders that if all Hindus come from Uganda, why did the Congress give citizenship to those Hindus? When Shah was interrogated over the Article 370 and the subsequent house arrest of the local leaders, Shah hit back sharply and said, “that the government has kept Farooq Abdullah well in Kashmir. There are only two constables. The Congress had kept Sheikh Abdullah(Farooq’s father) under arrest not in Kashmir but in Tamil Nadu for 11 years. Ghulam Nabi Azad does not have the right to ask questions on this issue.”
Shah also hit out at the detractors of the CAA by raising an important question that if tomorrow after the change of power, France removes all the Hindus from the country, where will they go? He said that if Hindus are persecuted, they will come to India only. Shah also claimed that on 25 November 1947, the Congress Party adopted the resolution of its executive and said that it is obliged to give full protection to all those non-Muslims of Pakistan to protect their life and honour, who have crossed the border to India. Home Minister Amit Shah said that in five years the Union government has granted citizenship to 600 abused Muslims from Afghanistan, Pakistan and other countries. If a Hindu is expelled in any country of the world, where will he go? He reminded the audience that it was Indira Gandhi who granted collective citizenship in 1971.
Shah’s statement on Pakistan occupied Kashmir will ruffle many feathers in Pakistan as he said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Central Government believe that Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (POK) belongs to India and should be included in India. He said that this is not the right stage that it should be announced in advance when PoK will be integrated with India.
The power packed interview saw Amit Shah answer every burning question and bust the myths and the lies spread by the opposition parties.