There must be huge mass movement if Muslims being sent to detention camps: Chidambaram

Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram on Thursday said there should be a "huge mass movement" if any Muslim is sent to detention camps in case the Supreme Court upholds the validity of the Citizenship Amendment Act.

Speaking at the JNU campus here, Chidambaram said that Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) was an outcome of the "NRC fiasco" in Assam which left 19 lakh people out of the National Register of Citizens.

The CAA was brought to accommodate 12 lakh Hindus out of the 19 lakh people who could not be included in the final NRC in Assam, he claimed.

Replying to a question by a student asking for best course of action if the CAA is upheld by the apex court, Chidambaram said, "When they touch the excluded...they will only be Muslims, try to identify and throw them out, declare them Stateless. There must be a huge mass movement resisting any Muslim being thrown out or kept in detention camps."