Cong misrepresenting CAA as instrument of stripping Indian Muslims of citizenship: BJP

The BJP on Friday accused the Congress of misrepresenting the Citizenship Amendment Act as an instrument of snatching citizenship of the country's Muslims and asserted the law is meant to give one to persecuted minorities from Muslim-majority countries.

Addressing a press conference in Almora as part of the BJP's campaign to counter the opposition propaganda on the CAA, Chief Minister Trivevdra Singh Rawat said the law is "misleadingly being propagated" by the Congress as an instrument of taking away the citizenship of Muslims in India.

He also said by "spreading lies" about the amended citizenship law, the Congress is only furthering its policy of "divide and rule inherited from the British".

"The Congress is misleading the people on the issue in pursuit of its policy of divide and rule inherited from the British. The policy Congress adopted to divide the people at the time of Independence is being repeated by the party today," Rawat said.

The chief minister said the Act, being opposed by the Congress today, was actually initiated by its government headed by ManmohanSingh.

"The Act has been passed by Parliament as the population of minorities in Pakistan has drastically come down from 23 per cent at the time of partition to 3.7 per cent in 2011.

"Muslim population in India on the contrary which stood at 4 crore at the time of independence has increased to 20 crore at present," the chief minister said.

He said the religious minorities in Muslim-majority countries neighbouring India are persecuted, forced to change their religion and marry Muslims.

The chief minister also said around 200 families residing in Rishikesh, Haridwar and Udham Singh Nagar in Uttarakhand fall under the purview of the amended citizenship law.

Similar press conferences were held in Pithoragarh and Uttarkashi by Uttarakhand Urban Development Minister Madan Kaushik and state BJP vice president Jyoti Prasad Gairola, respectively.

Union Human Resources Development Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank, Himachal Pradesh CM Jai Ram Thakur and Uttarakhand BJP president Ajay Bhatt will hold press conferences at different places in Uttarakhand over the next few days to "shatter the myths about CAA".