Amit Shah: Union Home Minister Amit Shah made it quite evident on Thursday how uncompromising the Indian government is in its support of the Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019. Shah declared in a recent interview that CAA cannot be retracted.
Announcement of CAA Guidelines
A few days before the dates of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections were announced, the Centre announced the guidelines for the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) earlier this week. He went on to say that the Indian government will never back down from its sovereign right to guarantee Indian citizenship in our nation.
“CAA law will never be taken back. It is our sovereign right to ensure Indian citizenship in our country, we will never compromise on it,” Shah said in an interview to news agency ANI.
Addressing Constitutional Concerns
Furthermore, the Union Home Minister responded to the claim that the CAA is unconstitutional. According to Shah, the CAA does not contravene Article 14 of the Constitution. “They always talk about Article 14. They forget that there are two clauses in that Article. This law does not violate Article 14. There is a clear, reasonable clarification here,” Shah said.
He declared that this rule is for people who choose to return to India because of religious persecution after the 1947 partition left them in Afghanistan, Pakistan, or Bangladesh. In the course of this interview, the Home Minister further stated that protecting the rights of oppressed individuals who were formerly a part of Akhand Bharat or undivided India was the moral obligation of the government.
Shah Advocates for Refuge for Persecuted Individuals
“The people who were part of Akhand Bharat and who were prosecuted or tortured those people should be given refuge in India and this is our social responsibility. Now if you look closely at the statistics, in Pakistan when the partition happened there were 23 per cent Hindus and Sikhs but now only 3.7 per cent of Hindus and Sikhs are left,” Shah said.
“Where are they? They have not returned here. They were converted, tortured and insulted they were given second-class status. Where will they go? Will the country not think, Parliament not think about them, and the political parties should not think about them?” he further said.
Amit Shah Highlights Plight of Hindus in Afghanistan
He continued by saying that there are currently only 500 or so Hindus living in Afghanistan. “In Afghanistan, at the moment there are now only about 500 Hindus… don’t these people have the right to live as per their beliefs? When Bharat was one, they were our brothers,” Shah emphasised.
