BJP national general secretary Anil Jain on Friday maintained that non-implementation of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) would tantamount to insulting the Constitution, the President, and Parliament.
Dr. Jain told reporters here that he had noticed Chief Ministers of some non-BJP ruled States saying that they would not implement the CAA. “This is a Central law enacted by Parliament and gazetted after the President gave his assent. Any statement to that effect of not implementing the CAA means disrespecting the Constitution, the office of the President as well as Parliament,” he said.
He accused the former Congress president Rahul Gandhi of using “intemperate and indecent language” against Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
“We are not against criticising per se, but one should be careful and responsible in using the language, especially against the Prime Minister,” the BJP general secretary said.
Alleging that the Congress and other Opposition parties had tried in vain to create confusion among people in general and minorities in particular, he said now the Congress had taken up the issue of the NPR.
“Actually, the Congress is bankrupt of issues to take on the Prime Minister and the BJP government. The National Population Register (NPR), a statutory requirement, was first initiated by the UPA government in 2010 as it is pre-requisite for the Census conducted in 2011. The next Census is due in 2021 and prior to that, the NPR is being carried out. There is no connection between the National Register of Citizens (NRC) and the NPR,” Dr. Jain said.
He reiterated that the CAA would not take away anybody’s citizenship. “All 130 crore Indians, irrespective of their community, religion, caste, and creed, are safe. Citizenship of none of them will be taken away,” he said.
