NEW DELHI, Dec 19: Amid protests against the amended Citizenship Act, BJP working president J P Nadda on Thursday asserted that the law will be implemented and the National Register of Citizens will also be brought in.
Nadda made these remarks here after meeting Sikh refugees from Afghanistan, who under the amended act will become Indian citizens. He also slammed the opposition for protesting against the new legislation.
He said BJP’s rivals are protesting for vote bank politics while ignoring the plight of minorities of three neighbouring countries living in India.
“Those who are opposing the citizenship law should meet them. These people have been living in India for 28-30 years but can’t admit their children in schools or buy a house as they do not have citizenship. Our rivals cannot see anything beyond their vote bank politics,” Nadda said.
“India is marching ahead under Prime Minister Narendra Modi and will continue to do so. The Citizenship (Amendment) Act will be implemented, so will be the NRC in future,” he told reporters.
A delegation of these Sikhs met Nadda at the BJP headquarters here and thanked the party for bringing changes in the citizenship law, which will now grant citizenship to Hindus, Sikhs, Christians, Parsis, Jains and Buddhists from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan if they arrived in India by December 31, 2014, due to religious persecution.
These Sikhs had left Afghanistan nearly three decades ago and arrived in India to protect their faith, Nadda said.
The BJP leader said the documentation process to grant them citizenship will be done quickly so that they could join the mainstream.
Asked about opposition from several parties, including the Congress, TMC and the Left, he quoted Home Minister Amit Shah’s statement in Parliament that they were speaking the same language as Pakistan on the issue.
Modi has been taking decisions which are “humanist” and in the interest of the country, Nadda said.
Shah has underscored the Government’s commitment to bring in NRC, another contentious provision, which seeks to identify infiltrators and take action against them.
Many political parties and civic groups have argued that the CAA and NRC are discriminatory against Muslims. (PTI)
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