NEW DELHI: On a day protests against the amended Citizenship Act shook the country and put the national capital on lockdown, the politics, too, peaked. The Congress, BJP and AAP continued to point accusing fingers at each other over the continuing street showdowns and demonstrations in the city.
Accusing the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Congress of waging a misinformation campaign on the piece of legislation and stoking public fury on the streets, Delhi BJP chief Manoj Tiwari on Thursday called for a “CAA reading session” at Central Park in Connaught Place on Friday to clear the air on the law. He extended an open invite to both the Congress and AAP to join the session.
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In letters to Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Delhi Congress chief Subhash Chopra, Tiwari urged them to rise above politics and help remove seeds of doubt on the legislation from the minds of the people, especially those belonging to the Muslim community.
“The session will help our brothers and sisters from the Muslim community understand that this law doesn’t affect them in any way.
This law is meant for giving citizenship rights to the persecuted and not depriving anyone of it. However, Kejriwal and Chopra are spreading canards among our Muslim friends about the CAA and stoking violence on the streets. I will read out the provisions of the Act in their presence and, if they have issues, they should point them out to me,” Tiwari said.
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However, Chopra accused the Centre of trying to push a divisive agenda and the AAP, too, was in on the conspiracy to incite the city’s youth into violent protests.
“People of Delhi are not just hurt and upset but are also feeling betrayed. The city is virtually under curfew and people are afraid to step out. Life in the city has been thrown out of gear,” Chopra said.
Kirti Azad, the party’s campaign committee chief, said those in power at the Centre and in Delhi were inciting violence and making a mockery of the Constitution.