Kharge slams PM, Shah over Citizenship Act, 'false promises'

Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge said here on Saturday that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah were "misleading" the country over the Citizenship (Amendment) Act and NRC.

Kharge, Congress general secretary in-charge of Maharashtra, was speaking after hoisting national flag at Gokuldas Tejpal Hall here on the 135th foundation day of his party.

The Indian National Congress was founded at Gokuldas Tejpal Hall in 1885.

"Prime minister Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah are misleading the public on the issue of Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the National Register of Citizens (NRC)," Kharge said.

Modi and Shah had made several promises such as the NDA government will deposit Rs 15 lakh in every person's account and create two crore jobs every year, but none of these promises were kept, he alleged.

"Successive Congress governments strengthened and instilled democratic values and principles in the country," he said.

The NDA government's decision to implement the CAA, NRC and National Population Register (NPR) were intended to create a "religious divide and anarchy" in the country, he alleged.

Kharge noted that Mumbai was the birth place of the Congress as well as the Quit India movement of 1942.

"The Constitution offers equal rights to all the citizens, but the BJP government, which is being run by the RSS, is trying to change the Constitution," he alleged.

"Introduction of the Citizenship Amendment Act, NRC, NPR are all part of the same attempt. Modi and Shah are trying to walk over the Constitution and divide the country on the basis of religion and caste," Kharge said.

He and other Congress leaders later paid tributes at the Gandhi Smruti Stambh at August Kranti Maidan before flagging off 'Save Bharat, Save Constitution' protest march.

It culminated into a public meeting near Wilson College, where city Congress chief Eknath Gaikwad led the gathering in reading out the Preamble of the Constitution.

State Congress chief and revenue minister Balasaheb Thorat said the BJP was trying to strip citizens of their constitutional rights. "But we will not let this attempt succeed," he said.

The Congress had launched a new "freedom struggle" to rid the country of Modi and Shah's "dictatorship", Thorat said.