PM Modi on Anti-CAA protesters : ‘Refusing to see ill treatment of religious minorities in Pak’

Prime
Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday came down heavily on those protesting against
the amended citizenship law, saying they refused to see the ill-treatment of
religious minorities in Pakistan.

“Those
who are fearmongering on CAA refuse to see the persecution of religious
minorities in Pakistan. Shouldn’t we help the persecuted? Some time back a
Pakistan Army advert came out in which it was clearly written that only
Non-Muslims apply for sanitation workers post,” PM Modi said addressing
hundreds of National Cadet Corps (NCC) cadets at a rally.

The NCC
rally was held as part of Republic Day celebrations, at Cariappa Parade ground
in New Delhi.

The
Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), which has sparked nationwide protests, grants
citizenship to non-Muslim refugees belonging to six different faith including
Hinduism and Sikhism and coming to India from Pakistan, Afghanistan or
Bangladesh.

The Act
itself does not mention ‘religious persecution’ as a criterion for granting of
citizenship, but BJP leaders and Union ministers have justified the picking of
six religions saying they were persecuted religious minorities in those three
countries.

At the
rally, PM Modi also tore into the previous Congress-led government saying
problems in Jammu and Kashmir persisted since Independence because some
political parties kept issues alive.

Claiming
that Jammu and Kashmir and other parts of the country were peaceful today, he
said, “for decades, aspirations of the Northeast were neglected.”

He also
called the Bodo peace pact, signed on Monday, as “historical”.

“Idea
of young India is to advance by taking everyone along, developing everyone and
gaining trust of all,” he said.