PM Modi stoutly defends CAA saying it will NOT harm any person

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday, 06 February 2020 accused the Congress and the Left of misinterpreting the amended citizenship act seeking to give India citizenship to the non-Muslims forced to quit their homelands in Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan and are now living as refugees. The CAA will not impact any Indian citizen belonging to minority and other communities. Replying to a debate in The Lok Sabha on Motion of Thanks to the President’s Address to the joint session of Parliament on December 31, Modi slammed the Congress for its politics in the last seven decades, saying the party’s politics of last 70 years has been such that no Congress leader can be self-sufficient. “I want to clearly state that with the CAA coming, there will be no impact on any citizen of India, practising any faith. CAA does not affect any Indian, it doesn’t harm minority interests,” he said in his more than 90-minute long fiery reply. The motion was later passed by a  voice vote. The prime minister said much has been said about the CAA, ironically by those who love getting photographed with the group of people who want ‘Tukde Tukde of India.”Those who have been removed from office by the people of India are now doing the unthinkable. They see citizens on the basis of their faith. We are different. We see everyone as an Indian,” he said. Targeting the Congress, Modi said a person who was associated with the 1984 anti-Sikh riots was made as Chief Minister with obvious reference of Kamal Nath heading the Madhya Pradesh government. “Does a party that keeps talking about secularism not remember 1984 and the anti-Sikh violence. It was shameful. They did not make efforts to punish the guilty,” involved the riots, he said. Defending the CAA, the prime minister said the Congress is having problems when “our govt is taking decisions on wishes of the country’s founding fathers”. Slamming former Jammu and Kashmir chief ministers Mehbooba Mufti and Omar Abdullah for their remarks on abrogation of Article 370, Modi said Kashmir’s identity was buried on January 19, 1990, when Kashmiri Pandits started leaving the Valley due to militancy. “Who made Kashmir only about land grabbing? Who made Kashmir’s identity only about bombs and guns? Can anyone forget that dark night of January? In reality, Kashmiri identity is closely linked with harmony,” he said. Listing out  his government’s achievements, the prime minister said the people of the country have seen his government’s work between 2014 and 2019 and gave a bigger mandate in 2019.”The people of India saw our work for five years. They once again blessed us, so that we work even faster,” he said.PM Modi said India can no longer wait for problems to remain unsolved, and, rightfully so. “That is why, our aim is speed and scale, determination and decisiveness, sensitivity and solutions”.”The people of India have not only changed the Sarkar (government). They want the ‘Sarokar’ (conduct) to be changed as well. If we had worked according to the old ways and thought processes: Article 370 would never have been history. Muslim women would have kept suffering due to Triple Talaq,” he said.The prime minister said if his government worked as per the old ways, the Ram Janmabhoomi issue would have remained unsolved, Kartarpur Sahib corridor would not be a reality, there would be no India-Bangladesh land agreement.Modi said the Congress did not remember to save the Constitution during Emergency and the ‘Save Constitution’ mantra is must “for those who dismissed several state governments”.Without naming Rahul Gandhi, Modi said, “I heard an Opposition MP saying- we will beat Modi with sticks in 6 months. I have also decided I will do more ‘Surya Namaskar’. This will make my back even stronger to face abuses. In any case, I have been abused so much for the last 2 decades that their negativity hardly matters”.