Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday accused some in the Opposition of speaking the “language of Pakistan” on the Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB) and asserted that his government’s move would be “written in golden letters in history.”
Addressing the BJP MPs at the party’s parliamentary party meet, Mr. Modi said there was a concerted effort to spread disinformation about the CAB, and that the party MPs should go to people to bust these ‘myths’. The Bill was as “historic” as the one that abrogated Article 370, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi quoted Mr. Modi as saying.
The MPs were asked to give a standing ovation on two occasions during the meet: one for the party’s sweep in the Karnataka Assembly bypolls, winning 12 out of 15 seats and securing the majority in the House; and second, for the passage of the CAB in the Lok Sabha on Monday night.
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“People who fled religious persecution have long lived a life of uncertainty in India and will get permanent relief once the proposed law comes into effect,’” Mr. Joshi quoted the Prime Minister as saying.
“The very same language used by Pakistan on the Citizenship Bill is being used by some parties,” he said.
Mr. Modi’s remarks were an apparent reference to the claims of parties such as the Congress and the Trinamool Congress that the bill discriminated against Muslims and violated the Constitution. “The relief and joy that the CAB has brought is immeasurable. Listen to the pain of those who will be benefited,” he said.
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‘Stupendous six months’
The party MPs were given a booklet titled “Stupendous Six Months” that referred to the six-month term of the second NDA government and listed its foreign and domestic policy achievements, including nullifying Article 370.
Turning the focus on the upcoming budget, Mr. Modi told the MPs to gather feedback from all sections of society, including farmers, traders, the poor, businessmen and industrialists, and share the inputs with the Finance Minister. “The budget should be reflective of all these inputs,” he is said to have told them.
Ovation for Yeddyurappa
Mr. Modi asked for an ovation for Karnataka Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa for the party’s good performance in the bypolls. He asked that sweets be distributed among the MPs before the week ended. Praising Mr. Yeddyurappa as the man who built the party in Karnataka, he said that the bypoll victory was significant as the BJP had won seats where it hadn’t registered its presence before.