Union Home Minister and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Amit Shah, in an exclusive interview with Network18 Group Editor-in-Chief Rahul Joshi, said the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) cannot be abolished and the process of granting citizenship will start this month.
When asked about the stance of Opposition leaders such as Mamata Banerjee and Chidambaram on not allowing the implementation of CAA, Shah said, “This is their trick to get the votes of minorities. Neither will they come to power nor will Article 370 come back. Neither will they come to power nor will CAA be repealed. They also know this. But they want to book minority votes by doing minority appeasement. This is the only reason they are spreading these lies.”
He further added: “In this interview, I want to tell the people of the country through you that as long as there is even a single MP of Bharatiya Janata Party in Parliament, Article 370 cannot come back, CAA cannot be abolished. Now Article 370 has become history, and CAA has become a reality.”
Elaborating on the implementation, Shah said, “Applications have started to come in. Scrutiny is happening according to the rules. And I think before the elections, before the last phase, the process of giving citizenship will start.”
The Centre on March 11 notified the rules for the CAA, a move that came just days ahead of the enforcement of the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) for the Lok Sabha elections. The Central government passed the CAA in Parliament in 2019. The purpose of this bill is to give Indian citizenship to refugees of six communities (Hindus, Christians, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists and Parsis), who have come from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan. It had led to protest over the exclusion of Muslims.
The CAA was an integral part of the BJP’s manifesto for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. While the Opposition has been questioning the exclusion of Muslims, the Centre has said that the law does not deprive anyone of citizenship nor does it grant citizenship to anyone. The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) had also clarified that the law does not take away any Indian’s citizenship, irrespective of their religion. Also, India does not have any pact to repatriate Muslim migrants back to their countries. It had said the CAA has nothing to do with the present 18 crore Indian Muslims, who have equal rights like their Hindu counterparts.
Watch the full interview on CNN-News18 at 9pm on Thursday.
Check Lok Sabha Election 2024 Phase 3 Schedule, Key Candidates And Constituencies At News18 Website.
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