BELAGAVI: The Opposition Congress is misleading Muslims of the country on the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). People must understand that this Act will give citizenship, and not snatch it away, Union minister of state for finance and corporate affairs Anurag Thakur said on Saturday at a BJP outreach programme on the controversial CAA. The Act came into effect on Friday.
“Detention centres were set up in Assam in 2009 during the Congress government led by then-CM Tarun Gogoi, and not by the BJP government. After this reality was exposed, Rahul Gandhi, who has mastered the art of lying, left the country and is enjoying a holiday,” he alleged.
Thakur claimed that the CAA was a saviour for the minorities of Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan.
“Opposition parties want to know what is the urgency in bringing in CAA. Because the people of the country want to give citizenship to Hindus, Sikh, Boudha, Parsi and Christian minorities residing in those countries, which was not done for 72 years. Former PM Dr Manmohan Singh wanted to introduce this bill in 2003, but Sonia Gandhi did not allow it,” he alleged.
Thakur also alleged that students of JNU — which runs on government grants —celebrate when Indian soldiers die fighting militants, and want Kashmir to secede from India.
Rajya Sabha member Dr Prabhakar Kore said that India has given shelter to lakhs of migrants from neighbouring countries all these years. Now Modi has brought CAA to give them citizenship, he added.
The CAA awareness meet was organised by BJP Mahanagar and rural blocks at Sardar High School grounds in Belagavi. While about 15,000 people were expected to attend the meeting, not more than 1,500 supporters turned up, due to a lapse in coordination. It is said that not all is well between the BJP leaders of this district. Though Chikkodi constituency boasts of seven BJP MLAs, they failed to gather numbers, disappointing Thakur.
Besides the thin numbers, the stage at the school ground collapsed when Thakur was being greeted by supporters soon after the event ended. Thakur was about to fall but was helped down by some supporters.