HYDERABAD: Union Minority Affairs Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi on Sunday made it clear that the Central government would not be making any changes to the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and scoffed off any scope of a state government not implementing the legislation in their states.
Naqvi, who was speaking to the media on the sidelines of an event, directed his statement towards the Opposition and said that there is no rethinking on CAA. "Any law that has been passed by the Parliament should be accepted by every State. West Bengal is part of the nation and (WB CM) Mamata Banerjee should read history and gain some knowledge on the Constitution," he said.
His comments come after Banerjee met PM Modi on Saturday. She told him that the WB government was against the CAA, NRC and NPR. Moreover, she requested him to withdraw CAA. He also termed the opposition to the Citizenship Act as a "horror show" and said it was perpetrated by people who have been given a "supari" to mislead people.
"Those who are misleading any section of the society on the CAA are enemies of the country’s unity and harmony. They are the biggest enemies of the nation’s minorities and Muslims… they are working as part of a conspiracy. This horror show has to stop," he said.
Directing his statements towards Muslims, Naqvi said, "I want to assure Indian Muslims that their socio-economic, religious, constitutional rights and also those of every Indian are safe and secure...Not a single Indian citizen will be affected by the CAA."
Naqvi said that a political "game of snakes and ladders" on the CAA was being played. "Unfortunately, a gang involved in spreading rumours and misinformation has been trying to gain political mileage on the CAA issue by misleading a large section of society which has now totally failed," he said.
On the ongoing protests, the Union minister said, "I feel our students and youths are not anti-national. If some vested interests are able to mislead them, then it is our duty and responsibility to expose them and also to give the correct position (of CAA) that we have been doing. The confusion and the conspiracy are now getting reduced." He said that the government was reaching out through seminars and awareness programmes.
Asaduddin Owaisi slams PM Modi for quoting Tagore
AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi slammed PM Narendra Modi for quoting Rabindranath Tagore and reminded him that during Independence, the RSS had protested against the decision to choose Tagore’s ‘Jana Gana Mana’ as the national anthem.
While addressing a public meeting ahead of the municipal elections, Owaisi said, "Is PM Modi ready to accept Tagore’s nationalism? At the time of Independence, when our forefathers decided that India’s anthem should be Jan Gan Man, RSS had protested that. RSS had said that they would not accept it."
He also slammed the Central government for the ongoing NRC/CAA/NPR controversy and said, "In the name of religion, you will be giving citizenship to Hindus in Assam. BJP leader Himanta Biswa Sharma said that the move would benefit BJP in 17 seats."
He said that NPR/NRC was anti-poor. “That is because, according to the recent NFHS data, many people do not have birth certificates,” said Owaisi. According to an RTI filed by MIM Chandrayangutta MLA Akbaruddin Owaisi, 28 per cent people under the GHMC limits do not have birth certificates.