Govt won't budge an inch on CAA: Shah

Jodhpur: Union Home minister Amit Shah on Friday said the government will not budge an inch on its decision to implement the Citizenship Amendment Act despite the Opposition's relentless campaigns.

Launching an "awareness programme", he said the Congress was misleading Muslims over the Act and challenged party leader Rahul Gandhi to a discussion if he has read the law.

The BJP will take out 500 rallies across the country, beginning Saturday to reach out to three crore people, he said.

Shah, who is also the BJP president, said the party had to launch this programme because of the misinformation spread by the Opposition on the amended law.

"Let all these parties come together. The Bharatiya Janata Party is not going back an inch on the CAA," he said at the meeting held in Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot's Assembly constituency.

The Home minister said it is shameful that the Congress is criticising the sacrifice of great sons of the country, like Veer Savarkar, for the sake of its vote bank.

The remark comes amid a row over the distribution of a booklet against the Hindutva icon at a camp held by Congress-affiliated Seva Dal in Madhya Pradesh.

Opposition parties have criticised the amendment that allows non-Muslims an easier path to citizenship if they came to India from three neighbouring countries before 2015 after facing religious persecution.

"The law is not against the minorities," Shah said.

"There is no provision in the Citizenship Amendment Act to take anyone's citizenship away but it is a law to grant citizenship," he added.

"We have not kept out any religion. We are giving citizenship to minorities of Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan whether they are Hindu, Sikh, Jain, Buddhist, Parsi or Christian," he said.

"Rahul baba, if you have read the law come anywhere for a discussion (charcha).

If you haven't read it, I will get it translated into Italian, he said, in a swipe at his Italian-origin mother Sonia Gandhi.

Shah said Congress leaders too had in the past talked about granting citizenship to those who faced religious persecution in neighbouring countries, but the party did not implement the suggestions due to the fear of losing its vote bank.

With agency inputs