Last night Home Minister Amit Shah had interviews with three national news channels discussing the controversial Citizenship Amendment Act that has caused widespread protests in the country.
In his first interview with Aaj Tak, he addressed different issues ranging from the controversial act, the situation in the North-East and the economy of the country.
Talking about the seemingly religiously divisive act that favours non-Muslims, Amit Shah started off by saying this.
We do not see India as a Hindu Rashtra. We follow constitution in letter and spirit.
Regarding the protests that ended up turning violent, leaving many students severely injured, he mentioned,
When a protest becomes violent then it is the duty of the police to contain the violence, and they did so – fulfilling their duty.
Shah also had an exclusive interview with Times Now in their segment called Frankly Speaking. In the said interview, he emphasised that the Citizenship Amendment Act will not get changed or withdrawn at any cost.
Zara bhi nahin (not at all) … kinchit matra sambhavna nahin (there is no scope)… bilkul wapas nahin hoga (it will not be withdrawn).
It is to be noted here that Supreme Court has delayed hearing of pleas challenging the act.
He then emphasized that every country has a register of its own citizens and the NRC was brought by opposition party Congress. He added,
Is there any country in the world where there is no register of its citizens, can anyone go to the US and just be their citizen?
I want to ask opposition parties, can they announce tomorrow that citizenship will be extended to every Pakistani.
Home Minister also mentioned that the students haven’t understood the Act are being misled. Thousands of students across India are protesting the CAA and NRC combination of which stands to, first include ‘select’ refugees and later on ‘potentially’ exclude many of them–all on the basis of religion.
