GJ-CITIZENSHIP-NITIN PATEL

Let Azadi-seekers leave country: Gujarat Deputy CM
    Ahmedabad, Jan 23 (PTI) Gujarat Deputy Chief Minister
Nitin Patel said on Thursday that those agitating against the
Citizenship (Amendment) Act and seeking "Azadi" should be
allowed to leave the country if they wanted freedom.
    He was speaking at a programme here on the occasion of
birth anniversary of nationalist icon Subhas Chandra Bose.
    "The country got freedom in 1947, but you see some
people gather and shout slogans of `azadi'. From whom you want
freedom? Do you want freedom from your parents? You want
freedom from your husband? I don't understand," Patel said.
    "India is a free country and the biggest democracy of
the world," he said.
    "If they want freedom from India, we should request
Prime Minister Narendra Modi to open the borders and they can
go wherever they want," the BJP leader added.
    He also alleged that the police was attacked in a
pre-planned manner in Ahmedabad during the anti-CAA protest.
    "In the city, if you want a bag of stones, it is
difficult to get, but truckload of stones were stored on the
terrace, with which our policemen and policewomen were
attacked," the deputy CM claimed.
     "But they forgot that this is not Kashmir, you are
living in Gujarat," Patel added.
    "We have taken all the steps that could be taken
against those involved. Some people have not been able to
sleep for two months due to the measures we took," Patel said.
    "We have the IIM-A here, where just 15 students gather
and protest against CAA by standing outside the institute. I
don't know from which states they have come here to study. I
don't have any problem with them as they are only students,
but I have a problem with their parents who have not trained
them properly," he said.
    The CAA does not take away anybody's citizenship, he
said.
    "In Delhi's Shahin Bag, members of only one community
are on dharna, I need not say anything more. This has exposed
who are feeling affected by the law," Patel said.
    "(Hyderabad MP Asaduddin) Owaisi is speaking against
the act. This community is hoping that as Muslims ruled over
India for 800 years, if these so-called secular, leftists
continue to rule India then at some point they can come back
to power in this country," Patel said.
    "The Indian Constitution and democracy will survive as
long as good people are in majority. You have to understand
what I mean by good people," he added.
    "Or else, you are seeing what is happening in Syria,
Iraq and Afghanistan, thousands of people are getting killed,
reports of blasts are coming every day," Patel said. PTI PD
KRK KRK

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)