Days after Samajwadi Party (SP) President Akhilesh Yadav criticised the National Population Register (NPR), the BJP has hit back.
On Sunday, Yadav had said that he would not fill the NPR form, and had asked his party workers to also boycott the exercise.
"The BJP will not decide whether I am an Indian or not. We want employment and not NPR," he had said while addressing a press conference.
Now, in response, the BJP has asked Yadav to spend a month in Pakistan to understand the atrocities being faced by the Hindu minorities there.
Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Uttar Pradesh Bharatiya Janata Party President Swatantra Dev Singh said, "Akhilesh should stay in Pakistan for a month and pray in Hindu temples. Only then he will get first-hand experience of the atrocities committed against the Hindus."
"There is nothing wrong with the NPR. It only asks for everyday documents such as the Aadhaar card and driving licence, even confirmation by three neighbours, to establish that the person is a resident of the area. But some political parties are making an issue of it," he added.
He added that the CAA would not affect the country's poor, and accused Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra of "misleading" the people.
"Priyanka visited victims of violence in Uttar Pradesh with the sole purpose of creating a ruckus. The CAA was amended with the people's best interests in mind."
A high-voltage drama had unfolded in Lucknow last week after Priyanka Gandhi alleged she was stopped and manhandled by police personnel when she resisted their attempt to stop her from visiting the residence of former IPS officer SR Darapuri, who was arrested for protesting against the amended Citizenship Act last week.
Having been halted, Gandhi then rode pillion on on a scooter, while Congress leader Dheeraj Gurjar drove.
Videos of the incident showed that neither rider was wearing a helmet. Soon after the incident, the police had issued a challan against the owner of the scooter.
Coming back to the present, Singh reiterated that the law was not aimed at discriminating against any community.
"Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah are trying to ensure a respectable life for people subjected to atrocities in Pakistan through the CAA. Because of the negative messages being circulated by the Congress, SP and the Bahujan Samaj Party, neither Hindus nor Muslims will vote in their favour now."
He also asked the anti-CAA protesters, including students of the Jawaharlal Nehru University and Jamia Millia Islamia, to read up on the law before condemning the Central government.
The CAA, for the first time, makes religion the test of citizenship in India. The government says it will help minorities from three Muslim-dominated countries -- Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, -- get citizenship if they fled to India because of religious persecution before 2015.
Critics say it is designed to discriminate against Muslims and violates the secular principals of the constitution.
With inputs from agencies)
