'What will happen if 80% people hit streets for CAA'

Amid raging protests against the new citizenship law, senior BJP leader Kailash Vijayvargiya on Sunday wondered about the 'likely impact' on the Congress party in the event of "80 per cent" people deciding to support the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and taking to streets.

The senior BJP leader also accused Opposition parties of creating anarchy over the new citizenship law and conspiring to create a "New Pakistan" in India.

Widescale protests are held in various states against the CAA, which grants Indian citizenship to non-Muslim refugees from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh who have come to India till December 31, 2014.

"Only 10 to 20 per cent people in the country are opposing the CAA. Congress leaders should think what would happen to it (the party) when 80 per cent of the people will decide to support the CAA and hit the streets?" the BJP national general secretary said.

He was speaking at a "thanksgiving" programme organised by the BJP in Indore in Madhya Pradesh in support of the CAA, which was also attended by the party working president J P Nadda.

"The Opposition is conspiring to create a new Pakistan within our country. The entire nation will have to gear up to foil this conspiracy," Vijayvargiya said.

He said Opposition parties are misleading Muslims by raising a bogey that they would lose their Indian citizenship due to the CAA.

"In a bid to confuse our Muslim brothers, Opposition parties are saying that they will lose their citizenship (due to CAA). We are not able to speak the truth but our opponents are serving lies to the public with confidence," the BJP leader said.

Thanking the Narendra Modi government for the new citizenship law, Vijayvargiya said, "You tell me only one word written in the CAA which harms and threatens the citizenship of any legitimate Indian citizen."

Vijayvargiya, who is BJP's in-charge for West Bengal, alleged that several Opposition leaders, including WB Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, were "creating anarchy" under the pretext of opposing the CAA.

"There is not a single Hindu living in 8,000 villages of West Bengal. If you go there, you will feel that this place is in Pakistan," he said.