Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Sunday said a large number of refugees were denied citizenship rights in the country due to the appeasement policy of the Congress and its allies, which ran past governments. Addressing a gathering in Ahmedabad after handing over citizenship certificates to 188 Hindu refugees in Gujarat, Shah said the CAA is about giving rights and justice to lakhs of refugees.
He also tried to allay Muslim fears by saying there is no provision in the CAA to take away citizenship from anyone; the CAA is about giving citizenship. "Because of the policy of appeasement of past governments headed by the Congress and its allies, those who came to the country seeking shelter did not get (citizenship) rights and justice from 1947 to 2014," Shah said.
"They (refugees) were not just tortured in neighbouring countries for being Hindu, Jain, Buddhist and Sikh, but also in our country as lakhs and crores of people longed for justice for three generations," he said. As lakhs and crores of people longed for justice for three generations, the past governments allowed crores of intruders into the country and made them citizens illegally, but they denied citizenship to people like Sarada Muni and Ranga, who followed the law and applied for the same, saying there was no legal provision for it. \emacs.
"From this forum, I would like to ask those who ran past governments as to what the fault of the people was, who came here to save their sisters and daughters and their properties, that they could not become citizens of this country," Shah asked. Assuring that the law is for the public and not the other way round, Shah said the BJP had promised in 2014 that it would bring in the CAA after coming to power and did so in 2019, which gave justice to crores of Hindus, Jains, Buddhists and Sikhs.
The home minister added, "After the law was passed, everyone was misguided that this would result in injustice to Muslims, and they would lose their citizenship. Today, once again, I wish to clarify before the Muslim community that in this law, there is no talk of taking away citizenship of yours. This law operates to grant citizenship," added the Union minister. "However, even today certain state governments are misleading the people," he said.
"The absence of such a law granting citizenship ensured people of our country remained destitute in our own country. What can be a bigger misfortune and irony than this? It could not happen due to appeasement policies for decades. Prime Minister Narendra Modi decided to bring the law in 2019, and I had the privilege of passing the law in Parliament," Shah said.
He said Bangladesh had 27 per cent Hindus at the time of partition, but today they are just 9 per cent because they have been subjected to forced religious conversion. "Where have the rest gone? They were either forcibly converted to some other religion, or they ran and came here. Don't they have the right to live according to their religion? If they can't live with respect in the neighbouring country and come to our country, then what should be done? We can't sit as mute spectators. This is Narendra Modi government, you will get justice," he asserted.
He has asked refuges from all over the country without any hesitation to apply for the citizenship as this will not affect their job or their properties since they will be granted citizenship with retrospective effect. "The law has no provision of criminal cases. Everyone is pardoned because the government had delayed and not you," he said.
The reason behind the enactment of the CAA was that at the time of Independence, India was divided on the basis of religion, and the minorities in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh had to undergo torture, their families were displaced, which made rich people of those areas become vegetable vendors in Indian cities. Congress leaders, after partition, promised to grant citizenship to Hindu, Buddhist, Jain and Sikh refugees coming from neighboring countries, but moved away from the decision as elections neared.
"The promises that Jawaharlal Nehru made in 1947, 1948, and 1950 and the clarion calls of Mahatma Gandhi were forgotten because they felt that when given citizenship, that would enrage their vote bank. So many tens of thousands, so many lakhs and crores of people were deprived of citizenship due to appeasement. There can be no bigger sin," Shah said. Shah said when Modi was declared the Primo Ministerial candidate by the BJP in 2014, he had told the citizens that their democracy was suffering from dynastic politics, casteism, appeasement, and corruption. "Modiji has worked very hard to root out these four cankers. He worked to end triple talaq, Article 370 which gave special status to Jammu and Kashmir and ensured justice to crores of Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, and Buddhists by amending Citizenship Act," Shah said.
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