'Govt open to suggestions in effecting changes in implementing CAA if there are problems'

Bengaluru: Republican Party of India (A) chief and Union minister Ramdas Athawale on Monday said the NRC was only for Assam and not for the whole country and indicated that the government was open to suggestions in effecting changes in implementing CAA if there are problems.

“NRC is only for Assam, it is not all over India.

Now the government of India has also said that any suggestions from anywhere can be conveyed to them in this regard….

My party also supports the NRC and CAA. But if there are any problems, definitely the government of India should think at amending some things in (implementing) this law ” Athawale said.

His comments came a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi sought to allay fears, especially among Muslims, on the NRC, saying his government has never discussed it since coming to power for the first time in 2014.

The issue was neither discussed in Parliament nor came up in the cabinet, the Prime Minister had said.

Assuring the Muslim community that the law was not against them, Athawale said the government wanted unity among Hindus, Muslims and other communities in the country.

“Prime Minister Narendra Modi has clearly said that we are not against the Muslim community.

Many programmes of his government like Ujwala and Jan Dhan, among others, have not differentiated between Hindus and Muslims….Muslims are also beneficiaries of several such programmes.

NDA government fully supports the Muslim community.”

Athawale alleged that the Congress, Left parties, the Samajawadi Party, Trinamool Congress were misguiding the Muslim community as they are worried over Narendra Modi’s re-election and were hence trying to create problems to destabilize the government.

Different parts of the country have been witnessing violent protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill which was passed by Parliament and given assent by the President recently.

According to the Act, members of Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi and Christian communities who have come from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan till December 31, 2014, and facing religious persecution there, will not be treated as illegal immigrants, but given Indian citizenship.

The act says refugees of the six communities will be given Indian citizenship after residing in India for five years, instead of the earlier 11 years.

He lauded the Muslim community for maintaining peace and abiding by the law on issues triple talaq, revoking special status to Jammu and Kashmir and Babri masjid-Rama Janmabhoomi verdict.

Athawale said the altercation between Jamia Millia Islamia University students and police led to disturbance in peace this time, as he stressed on the need for inquiry into the incident.

He assured the Muslim community that the Republican Party would firmly stand behind them.