New Delhi:
Union Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Saturday said that only those who are ready to say “Bharat Mata Ki Jai” should be allowed to live in India. Pradhan’s comments come amid ongoing protests over the new citizenship law and a proposed nationwide NRC. Is vichar ko spasht karna padega. Bharat me Bharat Mata ki Jai kehna hi padega. Aise log hi reh payenge. (This point has to be made clear. In India, one will have to say Bharat Mata ki Jai. Only those people will be able to live here),” Pradhan said while addressing the 54th state conference of the Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), the student wing of the RSS.
"Whether the sacrifice given by Bhagat Singh and Subhas Chandra Bose will go waste? People have fought for freedom not because we have to count after 70 years who all are citizens. Whether we will make this country a Dharamshala?" asked Pradhan.
ABVP event coincided with 135th Foundation Day of the Congress where Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra alleged the government wants to "suppress" voices of dissent through fear.
"Today in the country, there are such powers in the government with whom we had a historical clash. We are at present fighting an ideology against which we fought during the freedom struggle," she said at the UP Congress headquarters.
In her first visit to the state capital after violent protests against the amended citizenship law and a proposed countrywide implementation of the National Register of Citizens claimed at least 19 lives in UP, she said voices of dissent were emanating from multiple corners.
“But the government wants to suppress them through fear. Whenever such situations arise, the Congress rises to the challenge and accepts them. There is no place for violence and fear in our heart.”
She alleged the BJP makes laws which are against the Constitution and then suppresses those who oppose it.
“People were killed in the country, including in Uttar Pradesh, and those who could not be killed were put in jails. Their only fault was that they were raising voices against a wrongdoing,” she said, referring to protests against the and CAA and NRC.
