the goan I network
PANAJI/MARGAO
BJP national spokesperson Syed Shahnawaz Hussain on Thursday said that ‘Rohingyas’ will not benefit from the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) as it is only for minority refugees from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh and not for Burma (Myanmar) which was not part of our country when India partitioned.
“It is the government’s prerogative to decide on how many countries the CAA will apply to at a particular time. We have given nationality to those whose religion was in danger in Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan,” said Hussain, while answering a question during a press conference on Thursday.
Hussain said that communities like the Buddhists in Afghanistan and the Christians in Pakistan are unsafe and the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) will provide them with Indian citizenship under the law.
Hussain said that for Muslims who chose to live in India after the partition of the country, India is their motherland and no one could exile them.
“Around 600 Muslims have been accorded citizenship during the tenure of Modi,” he added.
“Even earlier when there was the Nehru-Liaquat pact, there was an agreement that in both the countries there would not be persecution in the name of religion. But in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh, Hindus, Christians, Sikhs, Parsis, Buddhists were being persecuted,” Hussain said.
“In Afghanistan, in Bamiyan the statues built in the mountains were bombarded. What then of the people who live there? Even today, in Pakistan, Christian girls are being sold for marriage to Chinese because they are Christian. If these people want to come to India we will give them a home and citizenship,” Hussain added.
Hussain accused Congress of trying to stoke violence across the country against the CAA, and said the intention of the Act was not to snatch citizenship, but to bestow it on those who are persecuted.
“To the Indian Muslims, I want to state don’t fall for the Congress trap. This is the Congress that has fallen at the election. The disappointed Congress is trying to frighten the Indian Muslims and the people of the North East,” he said. Hussain blamed the Opposition party for the violence at the Jamia Millia Islamia University and Aligarh Muslim University.
“For both these events, the Congress is responsible. They are standing behind the curtains and orchestrating it,” Hussain said.
Addressing members of the Muslim community in Margao at the BJP district office, Hussain urged them not to fall prey to the false propaganda unleashed by the opposition parties on the law.
In his address, Deputy Chief Minister Manohar Ajgaonkar accused the Congress party for misguiding the Muslim minority, adding that the BJP is fully committed to uphold the Constitution.
He said the BJP government in Goa headed by CM Pramod Sawant is working for the common man, including the Hindus, Catholics and the Muslims, while urging the Muslim community not to fall prey to the false propaganda.
