Modi accuses Cong, SP of spreading lies about CAA, says law here to stay

Azamgarh: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday accused the opposition of spreading lies about the Citizenship (Amendment) Act and said that the law is here to stay.

“Do whatever you want to, but you will never be able to remove CAA,” Modi said at a rally in Uttar Pradesh’s Azamgarh a day after the first set of citizenship certificates under the Citizenship (Amendment) Act was issued to 14 people.

“The work of giving citizenship under the CAA to refugees has already started. All these people are Hindus, Sikhs, Jains and Buddhists. They have been living in the country for a long time as refugees and were victims of the partition of the country done on the basis of religion,” he said.

Accusing the Congress of neglecting these refugees, the prime minister said, “The Congress and the SP tried to spread lies in the name of CAA. They tried to push Uttar Pradesh and the entire country towards riots,” he alleged.

The prime minister added that although the people of the “INDI alliance” claim they will remove CAA, “no one can do it”.

“You are a fraud... you forced the country to burn in the fire of communalism,” he said, attacking the opposition without taking any name.

The prime minister also asserted that thousands of refugees will be granted citizenship under the law.

On Article 370, Modi said, “In the recent polling held in Kashmir, people voted and felt proud of participating in the festival of democracy. The excitement shown by people of Srinagar in polls is proof no one can bring back Article 370 and do vote bank politics.”

“Earlier during the polls in Kashmir, there used to be protests, people used to fear for their lives and get threats from terrorists. But this time, previous polling records were broken in Srinagar,” he said.

Earlier people used to think of Azamgarh every time a blast took place anywhere in the country.

The prime minister said Azamgarh’s identity changed a decade ago. “Azamgarh’s identity changed a decade ago,” he said. The previous SP government did nothing for Azamgarh, he said.

“Terrorists accused of explosions were pardoned. Sleeper cells were given the cover of politics. Due to this attitude, terrorism rose across the country. These people still have the same attitude,” Modi said in an attack on the SP’s ‘shehzade’, an apparent reference to Akhilesh Yadav.