Delhi: Even in the face of the most recent eruption in Seelampur in the national Capital on Tuesday and similar protests in other parts of the country, Union Home Minister Amit Shah is unfazed.
Refusing to yield an inch, he said that the Centre will do everything in its power to provide citizenship to migrants from persecuted communities in neighbouring countries.
"Come what may, the Modi government will ensure that these refugees get Indian citizenship and live as Indians with honour," Shah said at a rally in Dwarka.
Despite the unequivocal assertion, the Ostrich head-in- the-sand mentality was manifest. He insisted in an interview to a TV channel that only 4 out of 224 universities were engaged in ‘serious’ protests.
In the remaining campuses, the protests were subdued and attended by a miniscule number --10, 20, 30 to 200 and 300.’
He also insisted that this was happening because students had not read the draft of the legislation. ‘‘It is wrong to say that all universities are protesting against the CAA.
Even in these campuses, these protests are happening because the students haven't read the CAA. I'm sure once they read it they will know what it is about. I urge them to read the amended law, at least once.’’
He further claimed that the agitation against the legislation were 100 per cent politically sponsored, as some parties were trying to draw a wedge between Hindus and Muslims.
Blowing hot and cold, Shah asserted that if the students resort to stone pelting then the police will be forced to take action; almost defending the high-handedness witnessed on the Jamia campus, he said In the interview to India Today Channel,
"If students or someone with the protesting students tries to burn down public property or resort to violence and the police do not take action, then I believe the police is not doing its duty. When a protest becomes violent then it is the duty of the police to contain the violence, and they did so - fulfilling their duty."
But, even as he took a strident line on the protests, he claimed the BJP dispensation at the Centre was ready to hold a dialogue with the protesting students.
Shah also claimed that around 600 Muslims from three neighbouring countries have been given Indian citizenships since 2014 when the Narendra Modi government first came to power. He also claimed that the Modi government has given citizenship to more than 6 lakh Sri Lankan Tamils, adds India Today.
