The protest of some States on the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) - 2019 is politically motivated and the constitution is very clear that citizenship is not a State subject, said the Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh, Jai Ram Thakur while addressing media persons here on Saturday. He said this when asked to comment on the stance of States like West Bengal and Kerala on the CAA. Thakur said that unnecessary doubts are being created by Opposition parties about the CAA, but the fact remains that the Act has no provision of taking away or stalling citizenship of anyone. The Act is for providing citizenship to the Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Christians and Parsi immigrants to India from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan. He added that the amendment Act sets up a cut off date of December 31, 2014 for the members of above mentioned religious minorities of these three Islamic countries and eases the process of providing them citizenship of India.
He added that CAA only intends to help minority communities facing religious persecution in the three neighbouring countries and would not take away anyone's citizenship and was in no way against any community.
He recalled that an agreement was signed between the then Prime Minister of Indian Jawaharlal Nehru and his Pakistani counterpart Liaquat Ali in 1950 on protection of minorities in their respective countries. He said that India still abides by this pact but in Pakistan, the condition of minority has remained pathetic. Thakur said that in 1947, Pakistan had 23 percent of minority population which in the census of 2011 has declined to 3.7 percent.
The Himachal Pradesh CM attacked the Congress and other Opposition parties of spreading canard on the issue. He said that it was the Congress party which on December 5, 1947 had passed a resolution on providing Indian citizenship to the persons facing religious atrocities in Pakistan. He said that the Congress party is now opposing the CAA which is unfortunate. Thakur also added that Mahatma Gandhi on September 26, 1947 had publically stated that Hindus and Sikhs of Pakistan should be provided shelter and jobs by India if they come here.
Dispelling the doubts on NRC, Thakur said that the Union Government has clearly stated that it has no plan to bring it.
The Himachal Pradesh CM said that recent incident where a mob attacked the Sri Nankana Sahib Gurudwara in Pakistan is a glaring example of atrocities against the minority communities in that country. Such incidents have happened many times in past against minorities in Pakistan.
Himachal Pradesh CM said that opposition leaders are raising unnecessary hue and cry over the CAA in a desperate attempt to divert the attention of the people from core issues of development.
He said that the country today was safe and secure under dynamic leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and is poised to emerge as the world power.
Thakur said that in his second stint PM Modi has taken up many chronic issues like abrogation of article 370 and statute on triple Talaq.
The Supreme Court (SC) order of Ramjanambhoomi paving the way for construction of Ram temple has come recently.
