CAA not to be withdrawn, those protesting can continue: Shah, challenges oppn leaders for a debate

Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday emphatically said the Citizenship Amendment Act(CAA) will not be withdrawn and those protesting can continue to do so even as he challenged opposition leaders for a public debate on the contentious law.

Accusing the opposition of "misleading" people on the amended citizenship law, Shah threw the challenge for the debate to Rahul Gandhi(Congress), Mamata Banerjee(Trinamool Congress), Akhilesh Yadav(Samajwadi Party) and Mayawati(Bahujan Samaj Party).

Addressing a rally in Lucknow in support of the CAA, Shah also declared that the construction of a Ram temple touching the skies in Ayodhya will begin within three months.

At the same meeting, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath alleged that the Congress is shelling out money for arson and protests over the CAA.

Shah accused the Congress of not implementing the suggestions that came from its own leaders in the past on granting citizenship to minority Hindus in Pakistan, Bangladesh (then East Pakistan) and Afghanistan after Partition.

He also hit out at West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, saying she is now opposing Indian citizenship for Dalit Bengalis.

Shah said there is no provision in the amended law for taking anyone's citizenship away. A canard is being spread against the CAA by the Congress, SP, BSP, and Trinamool Congress.

The CAA is a law to grant citizenship, he added.

I want to say that irrespective of the protests it will not be withdrawn," he said, adding, "Whoever has to oppose can oppose the Act, it is not going to be revoked."
"Playing with basic principles of the democracy, the BJP is going ahead with making intolerance its identity. Shah's statement that he would implement the CAA at any cost shows that the government wants to crush people with the road roller of its majority," Yadav said in a statement
Accusing the opposition of speaking the language of Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan, the BJP leader said, "I don't know what relation they have with Khan."
On Mamata Banerjee, he charged, "She was demanding citizenship for Dalit Bengalis. Now when the citizenship is being given to them, she has problems."