Govt shall apply CAA across country without any pressure: VHP

Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) international working president Alok Kumar on Wednesday asserted that the government shall implement the new Citizenship law across India without coming under pressure.

"The opposition that is taking place against the CAA is being encouraged by the political parties which have lost twice in the elections. CAA is the law of the center and only the center has a right to apply it. The government should apply this law all over the country without any pressure," said Kumar while speaking to ANI.

Being asked about the anti-CAA stand of Kerala and West Bengal government, he said: "Kerala and Bengal are not independent states. Both states have to implement this act. The VHP will support the Centre in this, we are with the people who had to flee their countries after facing religious persecution."

"Confusion is being spread about CAA that 50-year old documents will be demanded from Muslims. This is a lie," he added.

He asserted that the Act has nothing to do with "withdrawal or certify an individual's citizenship."

"Only those who were forced to come to India after suffering in Islamic countries on religious lines and living in India for the past few years will be given citizenship on humanitarian ground. Therefore, the law is not against any religion or Muslims," the VHP leader said.

Kumar also asserted that it is India's responsibility to provide economic employment and educational backwardness to all of them who will given citizenship under the new law.

The CAA grants citizenship to Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Parsis, Buddhists and Christians from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh who came to India on or before December 31, 2014.