PM warns against ”anarchy”, says CAA does not affect any minority

By Naz Asghar

Feb 5, 2020

New Delhi: Assuring the nation that no citizen of this country will be harmed by the CAA, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday warned the Opposition, mainly the Congress, of the bad consequences of creating misunderstanding among the people on the issue and accused the party of leading the people to the path of anarchy.

” I want to convey to the 130 crore people of this country that the CAA does not affect any citizen of India– whether Hindu, Muslim, Jain, Sikh or Christian,” the Prime Minister said in his reply to the debate in the Lok Sabha on the Motion of Thanks on the President’s Address to the joint sitting of both the Houses of Parliament.

In his about 100 minute speech, Modi took frequent pot shots at the Opposition, especially the Congress, for their support to the anti-CAA protest.

He sought to invoke first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru to buttress his Government’s argument for bringing in the law that makes special provision for giving citizenship to Hindus, and other minorities, excluding Muslims, coming from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan.

Modi pointed out that after partition, Nehru had in a letter to the then Assam chief minister said that that one would have to distinguish between Hindu refugees and Muslim immigrants.

Again, Modi, cited Nehru’s response to a calling attention motion in the Lok Sabha in which he had said that the Pakistan government was creating pressure on Hindu minority.

” Was Nehru communal. Did he differentiate between Hindus and Muslims?,” Modi said.

He attacked the Congress also by referring to the anti-Sikh riots, which happened during the Rajiv Gandhi regime. “Did those people not belong to a minority community? Why did they have to wait for over three decades for justice? Why did Congress give chief ministerial post to a person who was involved in Sikh riots? ,” he said

The Prime Minister ridiculed the Congress again over its support to protests for saving the Constitution, reminding of the removal of the power of judicial review, and other major actions to change the character pf the Constitution during the Emergency

Some forces were fulfilling the design of Pakistan by creating imaginary fears in the minds of the people, he said.

Dismissing the Opposition charge that his government was excluding Muslims, Modi said in his eyes Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan, Ashfaqullah, Begum Hazrat Mahal and Dr APJ Abdul Kalam were not Just Muslims but Bharatiya.

Coming to the criticism over abrogation of Article 370 relating to Jammu and Kashmir, the Prime Minister slammed former chief ministers of the erstwhile state — Mehbooba Mufti, Omar Abdullah and Farooq Abdullah for their statements on the issue.

On the charges of his government trying to erase the identity of Kashmir, Modi, referring to exodus of Kashmiri pandits from the valley, said Kashmir’s identity was “buried” on January 19, 1990. ”That idenity was represented by the sufi tradition, sarvadharma sambhav, Nand rishi, Syed Ali Hamzani and Bulbul Shah,” the Prime Minister said

Stressing that India can no longer wait for problems to remain unsolved even after 70 years of Independence, he said the country deserves speedy growth with fine decisions and decisiveness.

“If we had also worked in the same mode as of the earlier government then even after 70 years, Article 370 would never have been abrogated and he law on Triple Talaq would never have become a reality and the Ram Janmabhoomi issue would not have been resolved,” he added.

He also spoke of the success of his government in resolving the Bodo issue, and criticised the Congress government for not getting ahead beyond the ”paperwork” to resolve the problem.

But now the accord with the Bodos was solid as “all armed groups have surrendered as per the current accord. The tripartite agreement mentions that no pending issue of BODO tribe will be left unaddressed,” the Prime Minister said.

He also recounted the steps taken by his government for improving the lot of farmers, like increasing the Minimum Support Price (MSP) 1.5 times, which he said was also pending for long.Moreover, the Government has given away Rs 56,000 crore to farmers under Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana.

“The steps taken by the government have increased the trust of investors and made the economy stronger. From January 2019 to 2020, GST revenue crossed one lakh crore rupees and initiatives like MUDRA Yojana and Start-up India has given self-employment to many youths,” he said as the members from Opposition benches asked him to talk about the decreasing number of job opportunities.

The Prime Minister stressed on promoting labour reforms for creation of job.

“It is due to the speed with which this government has worked in the last five years that 37 crore people got bank accounts, 11 crore people got toilets in their homes, 13 crore people got gas connections and two crore people got their own homes,” he said

Emphasising that there should be no politics on the issue of farmers, he urged all the parties to work together towards their prosperity.

–India News Stream