JOIN USCitizens will get their constitutional rights: PM Narendra Modi on Citizenship Act
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday appeared to allay the fears over the controversial Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) assuring the citizens of the country that they would get all the rights given to them by the constitution.
Speaking at the centenary celebrations of the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) through video conferencing, Modi also said diversity was India's 'strength' and called for keeping aside ideological differences on the issue of nation's development.
The Prime Minister said that every citizen of the country should get the benefits of development without any discrimination. "There should be no discrimination on the basis of religion," he said.
Recalling the rich history of the AMU, the prime minister said that the varsity was like a 'mini India' and that the alumni of the varsity were spread across the globe. "Urdu, Persian, Hindi, Sanskrit are taught here.....it has both Gita and Koran...this is our strength and we must not allow it to weaken," Modi said.
The prime minister exhorted the youths of the country to work for the development of the country. "Politics can wait...development can not," he added.
Modi also attacked his political opponents in a veiled manner for using different tactics to serve their own vested interests.
He said that every citizen should be benefitted by the development of the country. "Jo desh ka hai wo har deshvasi ka hai aur iska laabh har deshvasi ko milna chaihiye" (whatever the country has belongs to every citizen and every one should get its benefits) he said.
Modi also lauded the role played by the AMU during the coronavirus pandemic.
The Prime Minister said that there was a decline in the dropout rate of Muslim girls. "It has declined from 70 per cent to 30 per cent," he added.
The last time a Prime Minister had attended an AMU event was Lal Bahadur Shastri in 1964. India's first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru had, however, visited the AMU campus several times.