LJP patriarch Ram Vilas Paswan defends CAA

In a delicate balancing act, Union Minister and LJP patriarch Ram Vilas Paswan has come out defending the government on the amended citizenship law, days after his son Chirag Paswan struck a discordant note on the issue slamming the Centre for ignoring his party’s suggestion for a thorough discussion before bringing the contentious Citizenship (Amendment) Act.

In a series of tweets on Friday, Paswan said the confusion was being spread against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) throughout the country “in a planned manner,” stressing that the amended law had nothing to do with the citizenship of "any Indian citizen".

“The CAA is applicable against the infiltrators. This is the reason why both Houses of Parliament passed it, even as the NDA does not have a majority in the Rajya Sabha. Muslims of the country need not worry. The Prime Minister (Narendra Modi) has repeatedly said that the CAA is for granting citizenship and not for taking away citizenship,” he said.

Paswan also dismissed the Opposition parties' claim that the people belonging to the scheduled castes, scheduled tribes and disadvantaged groups will face problems with the implementation of the CAA along with the updation of National Population Register (NPR) and the execution of the National Register of Citizens (NCR) plan.

“Confusion is also being being spread that people who belong to the scheduled castes, scheduled tribes and disadvantaged groups will be put on the list of suspects if they do not have a birth date or parents' birthplace or date of birth. This is not correct,” he said.

As far as NRC is concerned, the Union minister said, that there has not been any discussion on it so far.

“Citizenship is the birthright of Dalit, tribals, minority or upper caste who are native to India. No government can snatch away this right from them,” he said

Seeking to allay apprehensions over the NPR, Paswan said it was just a census conducted in every 10 years, assuring that no Indian citizen will be “unnecessarily” harassed.

“In NPR which is updated in every 10 years, there is no description of who is a citizen of the country and who is not. It is just a compilation of the number the members of the family and other details,” he added.