Union home minister Amit Shah asserted that the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) will never be taken back and the BJP-led government will never compromise with it.
“This is our sovereign right to ensure Indian citizenship in our country, we will never compromise on it and CAA will never be taken back,” the senior BJP leader said in an interview with ANI.
The rules of the controversial Citizenship (Amendment) Act, or CAA, were notified earlier this week, sparking criticism from the opposition parties.
"Even INDI alliance knows that it will not come into power. CAA has been brought by the BJP, and the Narendra Modi-led government has brought it. It is impossible to repeal it. We will spread awareness about it in the whole nation so that those who want to repeal it do not get a place," Shah said.
He scoffed at the opposition's allegations that the Bharatiya Janata Party is creating a new vote bank through the controversial law.
Refuting the charge that the BJP is using CAA for political gains, Shah pointed to the opposition's similar objections to crucial national security decisions.
On the concerns over the timing of the CAA notification, the minister said, “All opposition parties, including Rahul Gandhi, Mamata, or Kejriwal, are indulging in politics of lies, so the question of timing does not arise.”
Shah reiterated that the BJP had transparently articulated its intentions regarding the CAA well in advance. He pointed out that the party had outlined its commitment to bringing the CAA and providing Indian citizenship to refugees from Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan in its 2019 manifesto.
"BJP has a clear agenda and under that promise, the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill was passed in both houses of Parliament in 2019. It got delayed due to Covid. BJP had cleared its agenda well before the party got its mandate in the polls."
"Rules are now a formality. There is no question of timing, political gain or loss. Now, the Opposition wants to consolidate their vote bank by doing appeasement politics. I want to request them that they have been exposed. CAA is the law for the entire country and I have reiterated nearly 41 times in four years that it will become a reality," he said.
