Union Minister for Minority Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi on Wednesday said there was no “question mark” on or threat to citizenship of any Indian Muslim or any other citizen due to the Citizenship Amendment Act recently cleared by Parliament.
“The CAA is to provide citizenship and not to take away citizenship of any person,” he said at an event to mark Minorities Day in New Delhi. He said there were many myths around the CAA that needed to be busted. “When you speak to people there is a refrain that ‘We will get thrown out [of the country]’. That is absolutely untrue, why would anyone throw anyone out and why?” he said.
“The Congress and other parties are spreading this lie that after CAA there will be no place for Muslims in this country. That myth should be combatted,” he said.
After the event, Mr. Naqvi told The Hindu that the CAA was only for refugees fleeing religious persecution from three countries in India’s neighbourhood. When asked about apprehensions over the National Register of Citizens (NRC) exercise that Union Home Minister Amit Shah said would be implemented through the country, Mr. Naqvi said it too was not something people should have apprehensions about. “The NRC will be for the whole country, why is it being made out that it’s only for Muslims. Currently the NRC is only on in Assam under a court ordered process, and that process is still on. The protests against CAA are under false illusions,” he said.
Members of the National Commission for Minorities (NCM) and representatives of several religious communities were present at the event.
