Former Maharashtra Chief Minister and Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray slammed Modi government and criticized the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), on Tuesday, March 13, labeling it as an "election gimmick" by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
While addressing a public meeting at Pusad in Maharashtra's Yavatmal on Tuesday evening, Thackeray alleged that the BJP wants to create hatred between religions and stir riots in the country. Uddhav Thackeray is on a two-day Vidarbha tour to campaign for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
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"CAA is the BJP's election jumla. In December, the BJP brought the ghosts of CAA and NRC. At that time, fear was created in the minds of people, especially the people of Assam. Many petitions are in court against this law. The court's decision has not yet come, but still, they have issued the CAA notification. This is just an election jumla," he said.
"They have to create discrimination between religions and create riots in the country," Thackeray added. "If the BJP government wants to bring Hindus from foreign countries to India, then first they must bring back Kashmiri Pandits," he said. On March 11, the Union Home Ministry notified rules of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), days ahead of the announcement of the Lok Sabha election schedule.
The CAA rules, introduced by the Narendra Modi government and passed by Parliament in 2019, aim 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.