Do not ask me questions I do not have answers to. All I can say is the best happens: Sourav Ganguly
BCCI president Sourav Ganguly on Friday appealed for peace as protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act gathered steam across the country. The former Indian skipper had earlier refused to be drawn into the controversial issue, and even asked people to keep his daughter - whose social media post was seen as comment on the new law - out of it.
"My message will be to maintain peace. I will not go into the political issues of it because I have not actually read the bill. I do not think it is appropriate to make any comment before understanding but maintain peace and harmony. If there are issues, the concerned people will be available to address it. For me, everyone's happiness is important," said Sourav Ganguly.
Earlier this week, his Mr Ganguly's daughter Sana posted an excerpt from Khushwant Singh's book 'The End of India' that spoke of fascist regimes.
Soon after the post went viral, the BCCI president tweeted: "Please keep Sana out of all these issues ... this post is not true ... she is too young a girl to know about anything in politics" (sic.).
Asked in an exclusive interaction with NDTV, what he would have told Irfan Pathan had he been the captain, he replied: "Do not ask me questions I do not have answers to. All I can say is that the best happens."
The Citizenship (Amendment) Act for the first time makes religion the test of citizenship in India. The government says it will help minorities from three Muslim-dominated countries to get citizenship if they fled to India by 2014 because of religious persecution. Critics say it is designed to discriminate against Muslims and violates the secular principals of the constitution.