BALASORE: UNION Minister of State for MSME Pratap Sarangi on Monday slammed the Congress and Left parties for misleading Muslims on the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). Addressing a peace rally, organised by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in support of the Act here on Monday, Sarangi said the Prime Minister and Union Home Minister have categorically stated that CAA is meant to give citizenship to people and not to deprive anyone of it.
“Therefore, the opposition, mostly Congress and the Left parties have no reason to mislead the people in this regard,” he said and assured that Indian Muslims will not be affected by the Act and not deported from the country. BJP State President Samir Mohanty said the new law is meant to give citizenship to those minorities who left neighbouring Muslim countries and have been staying in India for decades. “People across the country are supporting CAA and only a handful of them along with some political parties are opposing it for their vested interests,” he said. Accusing the Congress of trying to instill a sense of fear in the minds of minorities, Mohanty reiterated Sarangi’s claim that not a single Muslim will be driven out of the country. Over 10,000 BJP workers and supporters participated in the rally. District BJP President Umakanta Mishra, Nilagiri MLA Sukanta Nayak, Balasore Sadar MLA Madan Mohan Dutta and former ministers Manmohan Samal and Raghunath Mohanty were among those present.
The rally was organised by the party to make people aware of the new law aimed at giving citizenship to the prosecuted minorities from Islamic countries of Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan.