Hours after scores of Pakistani Hindu refugees living in Delhi protested outside his residence over his remarks on the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday questioned the ‘audacity’ of ‘some Pakistanis’ to seek apology from a chief minister who, he noted (referring to himself), was in office thanks to an ‘overwhelming majority’ from the people of Delhi.
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“Today, a few Pakistanis created ruckus outside my house. They were given full respect and got looked after by Delhi Police. The BJP too fully supported them. How dare they come to our country and demand apology from a CM who was elected by the people of Delhi with a massive mandate? And the BJP is supporting them (the refugees)?” the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convenor wrote in a post in Hindi on X (formerly Twitter).
The AAP chief further claimed that in its ‘hatred’ towards him, the saffron party was ‘standing with Pakistanis’ and ‘betraying India.’
{{/usCountry}}The AAP chief further claimed that in its ‘hatred’ towards him, the saffron party was ‘standing with Pakistanis’ and ‘betraying India.’
{{/usCountry}}“Due to CAA, these Pakistanis will spread across the country, and create ruckus like they did today. BJP wants to make them its vote-bank,” Kejriwal wrote on the microblogging platform.
The refugees demonstrated against the chief minister over his comments from earlier in the day, when he questioned if the ‘women in your family will feel safe’ in the presence of ‘migrants from Pakistan.’
Kejriwal was responding to Union home minister and BJP leader Amit Shah. In an interview to ANI on Thursday morning, Shah had criticised the Delhi CM's statement on the contentious citizenship law; the latter had made the remarks on Tuesday, a day after the Centre, in a sudden development, notified CAA rules, implementing the law across the nation.
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The CAA seeks to grant Indian citizenship to minorities from three neighbouring countries, each of which is a Muslim-majority nation: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and Pakistan. Such refugees should have migrated to India on or before December 31, 2014.