CAA will force Pak to speak on minority persecution: PM

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday said that it was because of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act and the consequent debate Pakistan now has to answer the world about the religious persecution of minorities for the last 70 years.

Addressing the gathering at a cultural program at Belur Math the Prime Minister said that without the debate over CAA the world would not have known how minorities are being persecuted in Pakistan.

“If we did not amend the Citizenship Act this debate would not have been there. And without it, the world would not have known how minorities are persecuted in Pakistan. It is the outcome of our initiative that now Pakistan has to answer the world why it persecuted minorities for 70 years,” said Modi.

He also accused the detractors of Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) of spreading misinformation about it for political gains.

The Prime Minister said that even though “players of politics” have the ability to understand that the CAA is not for snatching anyone’s citizenship but for granting citizenship but they “don’t want” to understand it.

“What you can understand the players of politics are refusing to understand. They have the ability to understand it but don’t want to understand it,” said Modi.

He also accused the detractors of CAA of spreading confusion about it.

“Despite so much clarification some people due to their political interests are constantly spreading confusion about the Citizenship (Amendment) Act,” said Modi.

“Apart from this any (CAA) person from any religion and those who do not believe in any religion if he abides by the Indian Constitution he can get Indian citizenship following due procedure,” he added.

He also said that the Centre has ensured that the demography and culture of the Northeastern states will not be affected by the CAA.

Addressing an event of Kolkata Port Trust later in the day the Prime Minister renamed the Kolkata Port after Syama Prasad Mookerjee, the founder of the Bharatiya Jana Sangh which was the predecessor of BJP.

Without directly naming West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee the Prime Minister accused her government of not implementing several schemes of the Central government which would have benefited the poor. He said that the reason behind the state government’s action was that such schemes would not benefit syndicates.