Jabalpur: Launching a blistering attack on Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal, BJP president Amit Shah on Sunday said that those who had raised "anti-national" slogans at the JNU deserved to be put behind bars. Questioning whether Gandhi and Kejriwal are "cousin brothers" of the "tukde tukde sloganeers", Shah told a public meeting that whosoever speaks against the country will be jailed. "In JNU, some boys had raised anti-national slogans. They indulged in slogans like ''Bharat tere tukde ho ek hazar, inshallaha, inshallaha''...Should they not be put in jails?" he asked a public meeting in Madhya Pradesh''s Jabalpur on Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), which has stirred the politics in the country.
With people at the meeting raising slogans like "Desh ke gaddaronko, jute maro salonko" (traitors should be slapped with footwear), Shah asked, "Speak loudly. Should they not be put in jails?" "...Rahul Baba and Kejriwal are saying save them, save them (the anti-national sloganeers). Are they your cousin brothers?" he questionned amid cheers from the crowd. Shah, however, didn''t mention the exact timeline of the alleged sloganeering at the JNU in his speech. A case had been registered by Delhi police against then JNU Students Union president Kanhaiya Kumar and several others, for being involved in an event at the university on February 9, 2016, in which anti-India slogans were allegedly raised.
Shah singled out Kejriwal, who heads the AAP government in poll-bound Delhi, during his speech. "Listen Kejriwalji. Whosoever speaks against the country will find a place behind bars and nowhere else," he said. Speaking about the CAA, Shah said however much the Congress opposes the new law, the government will not rest until all the refugees from minority communities from Pakistan are given Indian citizenship. He once again challenged Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to show him any provision in the new legislation that will snatch the citizenship of any citizen in the country. "I am saying it loudly. You Congress leaders, listen carefully...Oppose it as much as you can, but we will rest only after giving citizenship to all these people. No one can stop us from doing so.
"Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist and Christian refugees from Pakistan have as much right over India as you and I have. They are the sons and daughters of India. The country will embrace them," he said amid chants of ''Jai Shree Ram'' and ''Bharat Mata Ki Jai'' raised by the people present at the rally. Shah also accused Rahul Gandhi, Mamata Banerjee and Kejriwal of misguiding people over the CAA. "I challenge Rahul Baba and Mamata Banerjee, tell me if there is any single provision in CAA that is meant for snatching anybody''s citizenship. There is no such provision. In fact, the Act is meant for giving citizenship," the minister said. "I want to tell the human rights champions the world over that scores of people have faced atrocities in Pakistan they were raped, killed and converted. You did not see their human rights.
Don''t they have human rights?" he asked. "What is their fault? Recently, Nankana Sahib, a revered place for Hindus and Sikhs the world over, was brutally attacked. Nankana Sahib granthi''s daughter Jagjit Kaur was kidnapped," he said. "Through this attack, Pakistan has tried to tell the world what is going on there...I ask the Congressmen to return from the wrong path. Feel the pulse of the country, desire of the country, or else the remaining of you will be wiped out," the BJP chief said. "People of this country want that refugees from Pakistan should be given refuge. I want to ask the deaf and blind Congress leaders to tell where the Hindus and Sikh brothers went missing in Pakistan. They were either killed or made to undergo religious conversion," he said.
During the last Assembly election in Rajasthan, the Congress had promised in its poll manifesto that Hindu and Sikh refugees from Pakistan would be given Indian citizenship, he added. "But now they are opposing the BJP...(Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok) Gehlotji, check your manifesto," Shah said. Shah also blasted Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath for opposing the CAA, which was notified by the Centre on Friday. Nath had led a peace march against the new law in Bhopal last month. "Kamal Nathji vociferously opposes the CAA. However, instead of opposing it, he (Nath) should focus on utilising his energy in improving Madhya Pradesh," Shah said. Meanwhile, five Sindhi refugees from Jabalpur met the Union Home Minister on Sunday, BJP MLA (Jabalpur-Cantonment) Ashok Rohani told PTI. He said, the five persons had migrated to Jabalpur from Pakistan in the past and are awaiting Indian citizenship.
The Centre had issued a gazette notification announcing that the CAA under which non-Muslim refugees from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan will be given Indian citizenship, will come into force from January 10. The CAA was passed by Parliament on December 11.
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