‘Stand Up And Respect Parliamentarians’, Says PM Narendra Modi On New Citizenship Law

Amid ongoing unrest, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday asked people at Delhi rally to stand up to show respect for Parliament and lawmakers who passed Citizenship (Amendment) Bill. The venue where PM Modi is speaking is over a kilometre away from Old Delhi's Daryaganj that was hit by violence on Friday. Accusing political parties of spreading rumours over the new law, PM Modi said, “Some political parties are spreading rumours, they're misleading people & inciting them. I want to ask them, when we authorised the unauthorised colonies, did we ask anyone their religion? Did we ask which political party they support? Did we ask for documents from 1970, 1980?” 

Retreating his slogan of 'Sabka saath, sabka vikas', the prime minister said, “Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, Christians all were benefitted by Central schemes, everyone who lives here was benefitted. Why did we do this? Because we live for the love of the country.”

PM Modi launched BJP’s campaign for the upcoming Delhi Assembly polls by addressing a rally at Ramlila Maidan, which was attended by residents of unauthorised colonies.

Earlier this month, Parliament passed the National Capital Territory of Delhi (Recognition of Property Rights of Residents in Unauthorised Colonies) Bill, 2019, to grant ownership rights to residents of Delhi’s unauthorised colonies.

It was passed in Lok Sabha on November 28, followed by Rajya Sabha on December 4.

Looking to make a comeback in Delhi after over two decades, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is counting on voters living in unauthorised colonies to challenge the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in the assembly polls early next year.

Residents from all 1,731 unauthorised colonies in the national capital, who have been given ownership rights of their properties, will attend the “Dhanyawad Rally” (Gratitude Rally), Delhi BJP president Manoj Tiwari said at a press conference.

The party will run a campaign to collect signatures of 11 lakh residents of these colonies. These will be handed over to the prime minister at the December 22 rally as a gesture of gratitude for the Centre’s role in removing the “unauthorised” tag from the colonies where 40 lakh people live, he said.