New Delhi : Reacting to Union Home Minister Amit Shah's remarks that "NRC, CAA are different", Senior CPI(M) leader Brinda Karat slammed the Home Minister and said that the "division is in the DNA of people who belong to Sangh Pariwar."
Earlier the Union Home Minister asserted that the NRC has nothing to do with the CAA adding that the CAA will be implemented in Assam and other parts of the country.
Speaking to ANI on Thursday, the CPI(M) leader questioned the timings of the implementation of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and asked why did the government brought the rule before the Lok Sabha elections.
"The division is in the DNA of people who belong to Sangh Pariwar. Without division, they cannot survive. Their entire lifeline is of polarization. Their entire lifeline is to spread hatred. Their entire lifeline is to create a rift among the people of India. Otherwise, why did Amit Shah ji not answer and why did he bring the rule of CAA after 5 years? Why did you bring the rule before the Lok Sabha elections, " Karat asked Amit Shah.
The Senior CPI(M) leader Brinda Karat reminded Amit Shah's speech of Lok Sabha of "Chronology" and said that all leaders of BJP and RSS can do anything for the election.
"The entire country would like to remind Amit Shah that in March 2020 he had said in Lok Sabha-'Chronology samajhiye, pehle hum log CAA laenge aur uske baad hum NRC laenge' (Understand the chronology, first we will bring CAA, then we will bring NRC). When people in Assam and the northeast oppose it, Amit Shah said that there is no link between CAA and NRC. All leaders of BJP and RSS can do anything for the election but the reality is chronology, either Amit Shah ji should say that we lied in the Lok Sabha, we misled the people or take back the statement made in Lok Sabha," she added.
In an interview with ANI, Amit Shah was asked whether the CAA would be implemented in Assam and if there is any link between the National Register of Citizens (NRC) and the CAA.
"The NRC has nothing to do with the CAA. CAA will be implemented in Assam and other parts of the country. Only the regions where two types of special rights have been granted to the people, only those areas will not implement CAA," he said.
"This includes the areas where there is a provision for the Inner Line Permit (ILP) and the areas that are granted special status under the 6th Schedule of the Constitution," said Shah.
Asked if the CAA will change the composition of the tribal areas, Shah said, "Not even a bit. CAA will not change or dilute the composition and the rights of the tribal areas."
On March 11, the Union Home Ministry notified rules for the implementation of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).
The CAA, introduced by the Narendra Modi government and passed by Parliament in 2019, aims to confer Indian citizenship to persecuted non-Muslim migrants--including Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists, Parsis, and Christians--who migrated from Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Afghanistan and arrived in India before December 31, 2014.