 "Foreign forces trying to weaken India by misleading people on CAA: Rajnath")
Senior BJP leader and Defence minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday claimed that he felt "foreign forces" were trying to "weaken" India by "misleading" people against the amended citizenship law.
Addressing an election meeting in Jangpura Assembly constituency, Singh reiterated that the Citizenship (Amendment) Act was not going to take away any Indian Muslim's citizenship but still misunderstanding was being created among them.
"No Indian citizen including Muslims will loose their citizenship due to the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). Still, if the citizenship of a Muslim is questioned by anyone, the BJP will stand with him," he said.
"Misunderstanding is being spread to mislead the people. I feel there certainly is the hand of foreign forces behind this, who want to weaken India. The decision is to be made by you, where do you want the country to head," Singh said.
He said India is not a Hindu nation and its history is written with love.
"India is not a Hindu nation, it's a secular state. Some people are trying to write history of the country through the ink of hatred. But we have scripted our history through the ink of love and affection," the Union minister said.
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He said around 600 Pakistani Muslims were given Indian citizenship in the last five-six years, asserting that the CAA was not against the minority community in India.
"We have not committed any crime by giving citizenship to minorities including Hindus and Sikhs persecuted in Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan. We are not the people who practice Hindu-Muslim politics," he said.
Singh also said political parties were free to discharge their duties as the Opposition but they also needed to keep in mind "their duty towards the nation in terms of the CAA".
Seeking vote for the BJP, he slammed the Kejriwal government alleging that it not only failed to fulfil its promises with the people of Delhi but also did not implement the Modi government's schemes for them including the Ayushman Bharat health scheme.
"No leader in a democracy has the right to cause loss of people for his own benefit. But he (Kejriwal) did this by obstructing the Ayushman Bharat and other schemes of the Centre, thinking Prime Minister Narendra Modi will become popular among the people," Singh said.
He cited the Modi government's achievements, including abrogation of Article 370 provisions, and said Kashmir will witness "such a development" in coming years that even people of Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK) will demand to merge with India.