BJP will pay a heavy price for its stubbornness on CAA: Amarinder

Punjab chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Wednesday took on former Madhya Pradesh CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan on his statement that the Centre would implement

Punjab chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Wednesday took on former Madhya Pradesh CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan on his statement that the Centre would implement the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) at any cost. “The BJP will pay a heavy price for such stubbornness,” a statement from the CM said, adding that an elected government which refused to heed the voice of its people or respond to their anger is bound to lose their confidence and collapse.

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The CM added that the BJP’s stance on the issue smacked of a dangerously fascist approach that would lead to their eventual downfall. “You cannot force us to do so,” he declared, even as he reiterated that neither he nor the Congress was against the grant of citizenship to persecuted minorities in other countries, such as the Sikhs in Pakistan.

“However, we are completely opposed to the discrimination in the CAA against certain religious communities, including Muslims. Despite the nationwide public outrage over the controversial CAA, the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre is refusing to acknowledge the unconstitutionality of the legislation,” Amarinder said, terming Chouhan’s remarks on the CAA as ‘shockingly inconsiderate’.

“Chouhan has absolutely no idea of what he was talking about, nor has he bothered to study the act, which has triggered massive public protests across the country,” the CM added, saying that these protests, were not ‘the brainchild of the Congress’ or any other party, as Chouhan has claimed, but were the result of a spontaneous outrage among Indians, cutting across religious and party lines.