Congress, BJP target each other over CAA, NRC and NPR

Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Monday took turns to target each other over the recently passed Citizenship (Amendment) Act and proposed National Register of Citizens of India (NCR) and National Population Register (NPR).

All India Congress Committee national spokesperson Pawan Khera slammed Prime Minister Modi led central government and said “The government has violated Article 5, 10 and 14 of the Indian constitution by passing CAA which has created an environment of fear throughout the country.”

“Pakistan was constituted on the basis of religion but India was constituted on the basis of constitution,” he said during a press conference.

He also targeted home minister Amit Shah and said Shah has never read history.

“If they are trying to right the wrong that happened during the partition then why did they add Afghanistan to the list as Afghanistan was not a part of the partition. Will Shah ignore refugees from Tibet and Myanmar?”

“Shah has said again and again that NRC will be implemented after CAA. He talked about granting citizenship to some religions but he didn’t say anything about granting citizenship to Muslims, Bahai, Sri Lankan Hindus, Tamils and Nepal’s Madheshi people” he added.

He said “Congress is in favour of granting citizenship to refugees but we are opposing this law because of two reasons. First is that CAA violates Indian constitution by being discriminatory on the basis of religion and second reason is that CAA should be seen with NRC.”

Satya Pal Jain, additional solicitor general of India and member of BJP national executive, said Congress is trying to spread rumours and is trying to scare people that their citizenship will be taken away.

During a press conference, Jain said “NRC and NPR have nothing to do with CAA. We only want to grant citizenship to those who could not come to India during partition but have faced atrocities and discrimination in Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan.”

He said Indian citizens do not have to be afraid as CAA is for granting citizenship to minorities of our neighbouring countries and no citizenships will be cancelled by the government.