Team Herald
PONDA: The BJP on Sunday reiterated that Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) is enacted in the interest of country.
BJP Rajya Sabha MP Dr Vinay Sahasrabudde today said that Citizenship Amendment Act is made in the interest of Country.
Accusing the opposition parties of misleading the people, creating confusion in their minds and causing fear among Muslims about CAA, party Rajya Sabha MP Dr Vinay Sahasrabudde said, “the opposition is doing all these only for vote bank.
“Every country has its citizenship law. Those who live in the country must have proper identification and papers of citizenship,” he said.
Dr Sahasrabudde was speaking on CAA at an interaction session organised by BJP on the occasion of National Youth Day at Alemida High School Hall, Ponda.
Present on the occasion were NRI Commissioner Adv Narendra Savoikar, BJP local leader Sunil Desai, BJP Block President Shantaram Colvenkar and PMC Chairperson Venktesh Naik.
He said that the amendment has been thoughtfully brought after discussing the issue with the stakeholders in the interest of Country. He said that CAA has been brought in to prevent Bangladeshis from infiltrating into Assam.
Sahasrabudde explained that in 1978, during a by-election to a Lok Sabha constituency in Assam, large numbers of Bangladeshis were found enrolled as voters. Since then there was agitation by Assamese against infiltrators demanding their deportation. There were three demands from them, firstly, to detect and identify the intruders; secondly, to delete their names from voters list; and thirdly, to deport them to their country. Further, there was Supreme Court order for National Register of Citizens for Assam.
Accusing the Congress of ignoring the Constitutional guidelines for the sake of vote bank politics, Dr Sahasrabudde said that the Constitution calls for introduction of uniform civil code; even the Supreme Court, on several occasions, issued directions for enacting common civil code. “However, fearing that it would be out of the power if it brought in the uniform civil code, Congress played vote bank politics and continued its policy of appeasing the Muslims by not brining in the uniform civil code,” he said.
For the same reason, he said, the Congress did not revoke Article 370 granting special status to Kashmir. “The Congress acted as if Muslims of India are opposed to good laws and changes in Muslim Society. When the Supreme Court struck down triple talaque in 1986 Shahabano case, the Congress led by then prime minister Rajiv Ghandhi amended the Constitution instead of giving justice to Muslim women. It was BJP that brought a law against triple talaque to get Muslim woman justice,” he said.
He said that the BJP brought the amendment to citizenship law to protect the persecuted minorities in three Muslim countries.
“The persecuted minorities are from poor class and deserve citizenship as and when they come to India leaving behind all their properties in those Muslim countries due to religious persecution,” Dr Sahasrabudde explained.
