NEW DELHI: Union home minister
Amit Shah
on Thursday asserted that the Citizenship Amendment Act(CAA) would never be taken back and rejected oppositions’s charge that “
CAA
is
unconstitutional
“. He further dismissed any provision on
detention camps
in the Act.
In an interview to ANI, Shah said, “This is our sovereign right to ensure Indian citizenship in our country, we will never compromise on it and CAA will never be taken back.”
Dismissing the claim that “CAA is unconstitutional”, Shah said, “They always talk about Article 14. They forget that there are two clauses in that Article. This law does not violate Article 14. There is a clear, reasonable classification here.”
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When asked about opposition leaders’ claim that they will repeal CAA if INDIA alliance comes to power in 2024, Shah said, “They also know that INDI alliance will not come to power. CAA has been brought by BJP govt led by PM Modi. It is impossible to repeal CAA…It is a fully constitutionally valid law… Supreme Court has not stayed this law…I want to ask Uddhav Thackeray to make it clear whether CAA should be implemented or not. He wants minority votes and is doing appeasement politics.”
On AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi calling CAA “anti-Muslim”, the home minister said, “What is his logic? There cannot be religious oppression of Muslims because Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh are declared Islamic states…There is no provision for NRC in this law. There is no provision in this law to take anyone’s citizenship.”
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When asked if CAA and NRC are interconnected, Shah said, “The NRC has nothing to do with the CAA. CAA will be implemented in Assam and other parts of the country. Only the States in the North East where two types of special rights have been granted to the people, only those areas will not implement CAA.”
The Union home ministry on Monday released guidelines for implementing the
Citizenship Amendment Act
(CAA), only days before the Lok Sabha election schedule was announced.
(With inputs from agencies)
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