Safeguarding interests of NE people BJP govt's priority: Modi

Allaying fears of the people of the northeast over the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday asserted his government would safeguard their language, culture and identity "under all circumstances".

Addressing a poll rally here, he charged the Congress with spreading misinformation in the region over the legislation, which has been passed by Parliament.

"I want to assure every state, every tribal society in the northeast and the eastern part of the country including Assam that preserving their culture is our priority.

"Today, I appeal to my brothers and sisters of Assam to have faith in Modi. No harm will come to them and their tradition, culture and way of living," he asserted.

Protests have erupted across northeast, especially Assam and Tripura, over the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, with several civil society groups, students' unions and political parties seeking immediate withdrawal of the legislation, contending that it would threaten the interests of indigenous people.

According to the bill, non-Muslim minorities, who fled religious persecution in Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan and moved to the country before December 31, 2014, will be accorded Indian citizenship.

The legislation has, however, exempted from its purview tribal areas of Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram or Tripura as included in the Sixth Schedule to the Constitution and areas covered under The Inner Line, notified under Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation, 1873.

The PM asserted that the bill would have no impact on the country's citizens and those saying otherwise are lying to mislead common people.

"When Taliban attacks were on the rise in Afghanistan, dozens of Christian families came to India, fearing for their lives. But the Congress government did not support them.

"Today, when the BJP is trying to bring a law to grant citizenship to millions of such oppressed and exploited, Dalit, Sikh, Christian families, the Congress is opposing the move," he said.

Slamming the erstwhile Congress governments, Modi said the party had always avoided taking tough decisions on matters of national interest.

"If the Congress and its allies gave anything to Dhanbad, Deoghar and Jharkhand, it is dust, smoke and deception. People were deprived of basic facilities," he said.

The prime minister contended that he never cared about vote bank politics and always believed in working for the welfare of people.

"The Congress had deliberately kept the Ram Janmabhoomi dispute hanging for decades. Matters of national interest are secondary for them.

"They had also kept the issue of Jharkhand's creation pending for five decades. It was the Atal Bihari Vajpayee-led government that created Jharkhand," he noted.

Modi said his government believed in taking strong decisions, and once it had resolved to do anything it would go to any extent to do it.

"We had said in our manifesto that Article 370 will be repealed. We did it, and today the Indian Constitution is applicable to whole of Kashmir. We promised Ram Janmabhoomi tangle will be resolved peacefully and we did it," he asserted.

Modi said the Congress did not take a strong decision on instant triple talaq for fear of losing its vote bank.

He said outlawing the practice will not only safeguard the interests of Muslim women but also benefit Muslim men.

"Tell me, if a sister is given triple talaq, does not a brother suffer? If a daughter is given triple talaq, does not the father suffer?"