BSP is ready to debate the Citizenship Amendment Act, Mayawati said. (File)
A day after Union Home Minister Amit Shah dared the opposition to debate the Citizenship Amendment Act with him, Bahujan Samajwadi Party supremo Mayawati said her party is ready for the challenge.
Addressing a rally in support of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) in Lucknow on Tuesday, Mr Shah had dared Mayawati, Rahul Gandhi, Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav to a debate with him on the law on a public platform.
"The BSP is ready to accept the challenge thrown by the central government, which is troubled by the organised struggle and agitation all over the country against the most controversial CAA/NRC/NPR, especially by the youth and women, for a debate on the issue on any platform and anywhere," Mayawati said in a tweet in Hindi.
According to the Citizenship Amendment Act, members of Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi and Christian communities who have come from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan till December 31, 2014, to escape religious persecution there will not be treated as illegal immigrants and process of giving them citizenship will be expedited.
Critics say that the law discriminates on the basis of religion and violates the Constitution. They also allege that the CAA along with the National Register of Citizens (NRC) is intended to target the Muslim community in India.