Punjab Congress on Wednesday submitted a memorandum to the President through Punjab Governor VP Singh Badnore urging him not to approve the Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB) 2019.

“The Central Government has totally failed on the economic front and the country is badly hit by recession. To hide its failure, the Modi Government wanted to shatter communal harmony by implementing Citizenship Amendment Bill, 2019, so that people can be distracted from the real issues of the country,” said Pradesh Pradesh Congress Committee president Sunil Jakhar, who was leading a party delegation comprising of Cabinet Ministers Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa, Sadhu Singh Dharmsot, Balbir Singh Sidhu, Aruna Chaudhary, besides the party MLAs.

Jakhar said that thousands of martyrs had made India a democratic nation by their supreme sacrifices. “We are proud of India being the largest democracy in the world. But the Modi Government, for its vested political interest, is running rampant schemes to make the country a religion based nation,” he said.

“The countries like Pakistan, which were established on the basis of religion, are lagging behind on every forum on the international platform, but still the NDA Government is pursuing its hidden agenda to make India a religion-based nation,” he said.

PPCC president said that the task of dividing the society in the name of religion was left unfulfilled by the British Government, “but now, BJP wants to complete British rulers’ agenda. The Central Government is poisoning the society by carrying the Citizenship Amendment Bill”.

He said that religion-based citizenship was contrary to the basic spirit of secularism in our Constitution. “If the minorities in the country survive in a climate of regret and fear, how will the India progress. The country not only runs with majority but to maintain communal harmony is equally important,” he added.

Jakhar said that BJP Government’s real game plan was to divert the people’s attention from the actual issues by introducing this Bill in such a hurry since the Government had completely failed to resolve the issues related to the common people.

“Congress party has urged the President of India not to approve the Bill to protect the fundamental secular structure of the Constitution of the country,” said Jakhar reiterating that the party will make every possible effort to protect secularism and democracy in India and will never allow the Modi Government’s tactics to divide the society.

AAP LASHES AT SAD

Cornering the Badals for extending support to the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2019 passed by the Lok Sabha a day before, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Wednesday said that the Badal family had tarnished Shiromani Akali Dal’s (SAD) image by using its office for their personal gains.