Union Home Minister Amit Shah said that the controversial Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA), which was passed by the Parliament in 2019, will be implemented before the Lok Sabha elections that are scheduled in April-May this year.
Speaking at the ET NOW Global Business Summit 2024, Shah said, “Minorities, especially ones from the Muslim communities are being provoked and instigated. The CAA is only meant to give citizenship to those who came to India after facing persecution in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh. The CAA is not for snatching anyone’s Indian citizenship because there is no such provision.”
The CAA seeks to grant Indian citizenship to persecuted non-Muslim migrants, including Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists, Parsis, and Christians, who migrated from Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Afghanistan and came to India before December 31, 2014.
Amit Shah over controversy on ‘PM Modi not OBC’ claim
Commenting on the recent attack of the Congress party over Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s caste alleging that he is “not OBC”, the Union Home Minister called it “unfortunate” and accused Congress MP Rahul Gandhi of telling lies publicly and repeating them.
Shah said that the then Congress government in Gujarat under the leadership of Chhabilaldas Mehta in 1994 had added Modi’s caste to the list of Other Backward Classes (OBC) and the Centre included the prime minister’s caste in its OBC list in 2000.
“Modi’s caste was listed in Gujarat as OBC on July 25, 1994. The Congress was in power and Mehta was the CM. Till that time, Modi hadn’t contested a single election, and used to work for the organisation. So, the question of his caste doesn’t arise at all.”
“Subsequently, the Gujarat government recommended for the inclusion of his caste in the central OBC list. It was finally included in the central OBC list in 2000. At that time also, Modi was not in a position of power — not an MP, not an MLA nor even a sarpanch. He became the chief minister in 2001. These people have a habit of distorting facts,” Shah said.
He also alleged that Rahul Gandhi didn’t have knowledge over caste and block, adding that PM Modi had said that he is an OBC and OBC is a block not caste.
“Gandhi was probably not taught this by his teachers,” he said.
Calling the Congress an “anti-OBC party”, Shah questioned the party’s contribution to OBCs.
“The Kaka Kalelkar report was lying for years. They did not do anything. After that, the Mandal Commission report came. They did not do anything for years. Till the Congress lost power, the Mandal Commission report was not implemented,” he said, adding that the it was PM Modi who constituted the OBC Commission.
He added that it was Modi who brought reservations for OBC in all central examinations.