Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut slams Centre over CAA protests, demands all-party meet

Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut on Monday slammed the central government for blaming the opposition parties for protests happening across the country over Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) and said that an all-party meeting must be called immediately to discuss the issue.

Referring to students' protest over CAA, Raut said that both the government should listen and understand the concerns of the students.

The Shiv Sena leader also said that the "whole country is burning and this is not limited to Delhi."

Raut also urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to call an all-party meeting to discuss the Citizenship (Amendment) Act.

Raut also commented over Union Home Minister Amit Shah's remark where Shah had said that they may bring some change in the law.

"This means that there are some mistakes in this law", Shiv Sena leader asserted.

"If this would have been done before then there would have been no violence," he added.

He also stated that Shiv Sena's stand over CAA will be decided by party chief Uddhav Thackeray.

"His decision will be our decision", he said.

The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill was passed by the Parliament earlier this week and became an Act with President Ram Nath Kovind giving his assent on November 12.

The Citizenship Act seeks to grant Indian citizenship to refugees from Hindu, Christian, Sikh, Buddhist and Parsi communities fleeing religious persecution from Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh and who entered India on or before December 31, 2014.