Congress standing with those who committed violence: Nirmala Sitharaman on CAA protests

Sitharaman interacted with people from the Muslim community during a door-to-door awareness campaign on the CAA in Jaipur, Rajasthan.

By: Express Web Desk

New Delhi | Updated: January 5, 2020 05:59 PM IST

3 min read

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman greeting people from the Muslim community during a door-to-door campaign for CAA in Jaipur on Sunday. (Source: Twitter/@nsitharamanoffc)

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman Sunday accused Congress and its interim president Sonia Gandhi of standing with those who committed violence during the protests against the amended Citizenship Act.

“The Opposition is creating confusion and misleading people over the issue of CAA. Congress president Sonia Gandhi released video statement but she did not condemn the violence. The Congress is standing with those who committed violence,” PTI quoted Sitharaman as saying.

Sitharaman interacted with people from the Muslim community during a door-to-door awareness campaign on the CAA in Jaipur, Rajasthan. BJP president Amit Shah, Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa, and a host of other senior party leaders also participated in the door-to-door campaign.

“The CAA is not for taking away anyone’s citizenship. The Opposition has no other issue and therefore they are deliberately creating misconception. They are wrong. Confusion is being created by linking CAA with NRC and we have to clear it,” she told a Muslim family in Jaipur.

Sitharaman said confusion is being created by linking CAA with NRC which has to be cleared.(Source: Twitter/@nsitharamanoffc)

She said religious minorities in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh have faced persecution for decades and therefore they seek asylum in India.

“In the last six years, over 2000 refugees, mostly Muslims, who have come from Pakistan got Indian citizenship. In the same period, more than 900 people, mostly Muslims, from Afghanistan and nearly 200 people, mostly Muslims, from Bangladesh also got citizenship. There is no exclusion. Even today, they can acquire citizenship under the Citizenship Act,” Sitharaman said.

Read | Will clear doubts of youths on CAA, won’t talk to those raising Azadi slogans: Ravi Shankar Prasad

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The CAA seeks to give Indian citizenship to non-Muslim minorities living in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh on grounds that they face religious persecution in their respective countries. The Act, which was passed last month in both the Houses of the Parliament, has been vehemently opposed by the people, especially Muslims, who fear that the Act, when coupled with the proposed nationwide National Register of Citizens (NRC), would seek to delegitmise their citizenship rights.

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