Union Minister of Home Affairs Amit Shah said the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) is not anti-Muslim and the law will never be taken back.
“This is our sovereign right to ensure Indian citizenship in our country, we will never compromise on it and CAA will never be taken back,” the minister told ANI in an interview.
Slamming Opposition parties over their "politics of lies", Shah pointed out, "I have spoken on CAA at least 41 times on different platforms and spoken in detail that the minorities of the country need not be afraid because it has no provision to take back the rights of any citizen."
The Home Minister's remarks come a week after rules of the Act were notified.
He pointed out that Muslims have the right to apply for citizenship in the country as per the Constitution, pointing out that CAA is meant for persecuted minorities, including Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists, Parsis, and Christians from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan, who arrived in India before December 31, 2014.
Refuting Opposition's claims that "CAA is unconstitutional", the senior BJP leader said, "They always talk about Article 14. They forget that there are two clauses in that Article. This law does not violate Article 14. There is a clear, reasonable classification here."
Slamming claims that the BJP is using CAA for political gains, the minister said the opposition had made similar objections to crucial national security decisions. "They even said that there was a political benefit in surgical strikes and air strikes. So, should we not take action against terrorism?" Shah questioned.
