Don’t be misled by oppn’s propaganda on CAA: Shivraj Chouhan

Says CAA is not about taking away the citizenship of those living in India rather, it is about giving citizenship to Hindus, Sikhs, Jains and other communities, who are forced to leave Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan and stay here illegally

In view of the large-scale protests over the Citizenship Amendments Act (CAA), BJP national vice-president and former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan held a session with the city’s intellectuals, professionals and party workers at the Bharatiya Janata Party’s local head office in Sector 33.

Bharatiya Janata Party’s Chandigarh unit president Sanjay Tandon during a press conference at Rajasthan Bhawan in Chandigarh on Wednesday. (Gurminder Singh/HT)

He appealed to the people to not be “misled” by the Congress-led opposition’s “propaganda”, stating that CAA is not about taking away the citizenship of those living in India. “It is to give citizenship to Hindus, Sikhs, Jains and other communities, who are forced to leave Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan and staying here illegally,” said Chouhan, adding, “India went on to become a secular state where every citizen has the same rights irrespective of religion. Pakistan, an Islamic country, has been persecuting the non-Muslims in their country since independence. CAA aims at correcting this historical mistake.”

On how India, with its limited resources, will accommodate people from outside, Chouhan said that this question does not arise under Modi regime. “In the last five years, there has been an improvement in governance and infrastructure. Moreover, we are giving citizenship to those already living here since 2014. They are earning their livelihood through small business or other jobs but had no right to citizenship,” he said.

He said India never turned its back on refugees and the Tibetans in HP are an example of it.

Shivraj Chauhan also paid homage to former prime minister Late Atal Bihari Vajpayee and said that while the BJP celebrates the occasion as ‘Sushasan Diwas’, the opposition has spread anarchy in the country with their “lies and hatred”.

“While Sonia Gandhi, along with her family, is leading the protests against CAA at Rajghat today, why was she and Rahul Gandhi silent about this bill when it was being discussed in the Parliament,” he asked.