PM Modi said the Congress was used to the politics of "spreading falsehoods and fear" in the country.
Highlights
- PM Modi accused Congress of "spreading fear" among Muslims
- Congress was used to politics of "spreading falsehoods and fear", he said
- He was addressing a rally in Berhait for ongoing Jharkhand election
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, amid protests in many parts of the country against the citizenship law, today dared the Congress to "declare" that it is willing to make every Pakistani an Indian citizen. He also accused the opposition party of "spreading fear" among Muslims and reasserted that no citizen of the country would be affected by the new law.
"I want to throw an open challenge to the Congress and its allies," PM Modi said, addressing a rally in Berhait for the ongoing Jharkhand election.
"If they (Congress and its allies) have the guts, they should openly announce that they are ready to grant Indian citizenship to every Pakistani citizen. Then the country will make them pay... Not just that. If they have the courage, let them say they will restore Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir that Modi removed."
The Prime Minister said the Congress was used to the politics of "spreading falsehoods and fear" in the country. "We brought the Citizenship Amendment Act and now they are again into white lies. The CAA will not affect any citizen of the country," he insisted.
"I repeat, no citizen of the country will be affected by this law. The law we made is for minorities in neighbouring countries who are persecuted."
The Congress should "stop this guerilla politics", said the PM. "Indian Constitution is our only holy book. I appeal to youth in colleges to debate our policies, protest democratically. We will listen to you. But some parties, urban Naxals, are firing from your shoulders," he added.
Protests against the citizenship law, passed last week, have swept through college campuses in the country after violence erupted at a students' protest at Jamia Millia University in Delhi. The police are accused of barging into the Jamia campus without permission and using excessive force on students, leaving many of them injured.
The citizenship law facilitates Indian citizenship for non-Muslims from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan who entered India before 2015.
"How is any Indian Muslim's or any other Indian citizen's right being violated? Why are you lying? Why are you spreading lies? Congress and its friends are trying to scare Muslims with this topic and cooking their political khichdi. Because of the Congress's divide and rule policy, the nation has already been divided once. The country has been broken into pieces before. The way they let lakhs of infiltrators enter India and used them as their votebank," PM Modi said, attacking the Congress.