Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a stern tone, while addressing people at Belur Math, said that the Opposition parties are playing 'political games' over the Centre's Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA)
Howrah: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday (January 12) accused the Opposition of playing "political games" over the amended Citizenship law and said Pakistan will now have to answer why it committed atrocities against minorities.
PM Modi also asserted that the amended law is aimed at giving citizenship and not revoking it.
The Prime Minister in his address at Belur Math stated that many youths are being “misguided regarding CAA”.
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“Many youths are enlightened, but many are being misled. It is our responsibility to explain the CAA to such youth,” he stated.
"I repeat, Citizenship act is not to revoke anyone's citizenship, but it is to give citizenship. After independence, Mahatma Gandhiji and other big leaders of the time all believed that India should give citizenship to persecuted religious minorities of Pakistan," the Prime Minister added.
"You understood this very clearly. But those playing political games purposely refuse to understand. People are being misled over the CAA," he added.
Attacking Pakistan for committing atrocities on minorities, PM Modi said, "India's youth is raising its voice against the atrocities being committed on minorities in Pakistan. Had this issue not been raised, the world would not have known about this. This is the result of our initiative that Pakistan will now have to answer why it committed atrocities on minorities over the last 70 years."
The Prime Minister said that the Centre made provisions to protect the identity, demography, and culture of the North-East.
"North-East is our pride. CAA will not have any adverse effect on their demography, identity and culture. The Central government has made provisions for this," he said.
The Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 grants citizenship to Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Parsis, Buddhists and Christians fleeing religious persecution from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh who came to India on or before December 31, 2014.
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