If CAA is upheld, it would be end of secularism: Digvijaya

Senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh said on Thursday that if the Supreme Court held the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) as constitutional, it would be the "last nail in the coffin of secularism".

The Muslim community in the country was living in "fear" and looking up to the Supreme Court before which the constitutionality of the law has been challenged, Singh said here.

"Unity in diversity is the biggest strength of our country, which has been spoiled by (Prime Minister Narendra) Modi-ji and (Union home minister) Amit Shah-ji," he told reporters here.

"Digvijaya Singh is being dubbed as pro-Muslim. I am neither pro-Hindu nor pro-Muslim. I am pro-Indian," the Rajya Sabha MP said.

"Muslims are (living) in fear....They are disappointed with the system, political parties and police. Their only ray of hope is the judiciary," Singh said.

"They (Muslims) are waiting for the verdict of Supreme Court on the unconstitutional CAA," he said.

"If they (the SC) uphold the Modi-Shah government's decision considering this unconstitutional law as constitutional, it will be the last nail in the coffin of secularism," the veteran Congress leader said.

Singh also said that the anti-CAA movement was now "out of our hands" and being run "entirely by women and children".

He also questioned the need for bringing in the CAA when the Union government was already empowered to grant citizenship through a certain procedure.

The CAA grants citizenship to non-Muslim refugees from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh who migrated to India fleeing religious persecution.

"This law has been brought to threaten and frighten the Muslims," Singh alleged.

The Congress leader also asked why Jammu and Kashmir police officer Devendra Singh, arrested while allegedly accompanying a terrorist, was not booked for "treason".

"In the eyes of the BJP, he (Devendra Singh) was not anti-national, but Digvijaya was," he quipped.

"I want to ask Amit Shah why he handed over the probe against Devendra Singh to the National Investigation Agency," Singh said.