CAA controversy a non-issue, says Pralhad Joshi

Union Minister for Parliamentary Affairs and Coal, Pralhad Joshi dismissed the controversy over the Citizenship (Amendment) Act as a non-issue and accused the Congress of inciting violence by provoking the Muslim community.

Speaking at the state BJP office in the city, he said that the Congress was resorting to such tactics as it was frustrated by its steady political and electoral decline. "The Congress cannot tolerate the phenomenal rise of the BJP and Modi's stature and hence it is misleading the Muslim community. This won't work as Muslims have realised the Congress's plot," he said.

The CAA, he said, was inclusive and is in the spirit of 'Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas and Sabka Vishwas. "But, the Congress, TMC and few Left parties are raising a hue and cry over a non-issue," Joshi said.

The Congress leaders complain about the Muslims from the three countries included in the Centre's CAA, not being eligible for citizenship.

"But this enactment is specifically to those six religious minorities who are persecuted on religious grounds in the three Islamic Republics. In those three countries, Muslims are not religious minorities and they are not persecuted," he said.

Citing examples of singer Adnan Sami and writer Taslima Nasreen, he said that 500 Muslim families were given citizenship under the Citizenship Act, 1955 so far. Naturalisation is another process through which one can obtain citizenship, he added.