CAA protest leading to anarchy, says Modi

New Delhi:  Hitting out at Pakistan as well as opposition parties for misleading Muslims on Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said the Act will not harm “any Indian” as well as the “minority” and instigating such protests could lead to “anarchy”.

Addressing the Lok Sabha while speaking on the motion of thanks to President Ram Nath Kovind’s address to the joint session of Parliament on January 31 — day one of the Budget session — Modi rejected allegations of various political parties that the current government led by BJP wanted to make India a Hindu nation.

The Prime Minister said Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of India, had also used “Pakistan’s minority” word and in November 9, 1950, he had said that those who had come to India should be given citizenship and if needed there should be changes in the law. “Did Nehru want to make India a Hindu nation?”

“This Act will not harm any Indian citizen. It will not harm any minority,” Modi said in his over 100-minute speech.

The Prime Minister said that it is just “vote bank politics” and asked if Congress has forgotten the 1984 Sikh riots when “our Sikh brothers and sisters were set ablaze”.

“Did they not belong to a minority community? Why did they have to wait for over three decades for getting justice? Why did Congress give chief ministerial post to a person who was involved in Sikh riots? Do they have two different yardsticks for the term minority?”

Hitting out at the Congress, the Prime Minister said it is the “misfortune” of the country that it has found such an opposition which has drifted to a “wrong path”.

The Prime Minister said the Congress and its “ecosystem” is creating turmoil on CAA, a legislation which grants citizenship to six-non Muslim minorities — Hindu, Sikh, Parsi, Jain, Christian and Buddhist which migrated to India on or before December 31, 2014 from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan.

“They (opposition) have used full power to instil an imaginary fear in the minds of people against CAA. Pakistan also speaks the same language. Pakistan played every game to mislead Indian Muslims. But that country’s attempts have failed…A Muslim is only a Muslim for the Congress, but we see him as an Indian.”

The Prime Minister said that minorities in Pakistan are being harassed since the Partition. However, demonstrations are being instigated in India if “we try to give citizenship rights to those minorities through CAA”.

On Jammu and Kashmir issue, the Prime Minister slammed controversial remarks made by former chief ministers of the erstwhile state — Mehbooba Mufti, Omar Abdullah and Farooq Abdullah — on abrogation of Article 370.

Referring to exodus of Kashmiri pandits from Kashmir, the Prime Minister said, Kashmir’s identity was “buried” on January 19, 1990.

Mentioning that India can no longer wait for problems to remain unsolved even after 70 years of Independence, Modi stressed that the country deserves speedy growth with fine decisions and decisiveness.

The Prime Minister said that people have seen the speed and work of this government and “that’s why they gave us a bigger mandate in the elections”.

“If the current government would also have worked in the same mode as of the earlier government then even after 70 years, Article 370 would never have been abrogated and law on Triple Talaq would never have become a reality and Ram Janmabhoomi issue would not have been resolved.”

Speaking on Bodo dispute, the Prime Minister said that all the previous government’s efforts in this direction only remained confined to paperwork, assuring that the current accord with BODO people is special in many ways.

“All armed groups have surrendered as per the current accord. The tripartite agreement mentions that no pending issue of BODO tribe will be left unaddressed.”

Talking about farmer’s issue, the Prime Minister said there should be no politics on the issue, requesting all to work together towards the prosperity of farmers.

The issue of increasing the Minimum Support Price (MSP) 1.5 times was also pending for long, Modi said, adding the matter has been addressed as well by the government which in addition gave away Rs 56,000 crore to farmers under Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana.

“The government has taken several steps to increase the trust of investors and make the economy stronger. From January 2019 to 2020, GST revenue crossed one lakh crore rupees and initiatives like MUDRA Yojana and Start-up India has given self-employment to many youths.”

The Prime Minister emphasized promoting labour reforms for creation of job.

“It is due to the speed of this government that in the last five years, 37 crore people got bank accounts, 11 crore people got toilets in their homes, 13 crore people got gas connections and two crore people got their own homes.”

IANS