A Hindustani can't discriminate on religion: Rajnath

Union minister and senior BJP leader, Rajnath Singh on Sunday said people should not have any misconception about the controversial Citizenship Amendment Act.

On a day's visit to his Lok Sabha constituency, Singh visited the residence of Justice Khem Karan in Lucknow to mobilise support for the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).

"Our party has decided to give a message to the people that they should not have any misconceptions about CAA. The Indian culture teaches us 'Sarvdharma Sambhav' and a Hindustani cannot discriminate on lines of caste and religion," he said.

His visit comes days after widespread violence during protests against the law, which officials said left 19 persons dead.

The message of 'Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam' (the world is one family) had gone from India to the entire world, Singh said, adding "Indian cultural values cannot be violated by our party."

The defence minister also circulated pamphlets on the CAA and requested the media and party workers to go through them.

When asked by media persons about the National Register of Citizens (NRC), he said the exercise was on in Assam on the directives of the Supreme Court and not on the Centre's initiative.

"NRC is going on only in Assam and work has been completed to some extent. It is going on there on SC's directives. There is no order from the government in this regard. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has clarified it," Singh said.