Don't Play Defensive, Rebut Opposition's Charges Over CAA: Modi To NDA Leaders

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday asked NDA leaders to strongly back the Citizenship Amendment Act and rebut the Opposition's allegations of discrimination against a particular community. The prime minister said that Muslims have as much rights as others have and that his government caters to the minorities the same way it does to the rest.

PM Modi said this during a strategy meeting of National Democratic Alliance (NDA) leaders ahead of the Union Budget 2020. Modi told NDA allies that his government has not done anything wrong and they have no reason to play defensive about the Citizenship Amendment Act or CAA in wake of nation-wide protests.

"PM Modi said at the meeting that Muslims have as much rights as others have in the country to reject the opposition's charge against the government over the CAA," Union Minister and LJP leader Ram Vilas Paswan told news agency PTI.

The Opposition parties have termed the CAA "unconstitutional and discriminatory" and said that they will raise the issue of protests against it during the Budget session of Parliament. The Opposition has also accused the Narendra Modi government of being arrogant as it made no efforts to reach out to anti-CAA protesters.

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Minorities are as much "ours as other citizens are", Modi said, according to another leader, and he asked the leaders of the ruling alliance to aggressively take on the opposition’s charge that the amended citizenship law discriminated against Muslims.

The NDA meet also passed a resolution applauding Modi for taking various initiatives in the North East, such as the signing of the Bodo agreement and settlement of Bru tribe members in Tripura, the passage of the CAA in Parliament, and the opening of the Kartarpur corridor. The resolution also praised Modi for the government’s decision to give ownership rights to residents of 1797 unatuhorised colonies in the national capital ahead of Assembly elections.