Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal criticised the rules for the implementation of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) on Wednesday, 13 March, accusing the BJP-led central government of prioritising foreign minorities over Indian citizens.
"The BJP-led central government has passed a notification to implement CAA. After ruling the country for 10 years before the elections, they are talking about CAA. If they had done some good work, maybe today instead of CAA they would have been asking for votes for their work," said Delhi CM Kejriwal.
While talking about the challenges in India, Kejriwal said, "Today, the main challenge in our country is inflation and unemployment. People are not able to manage their households because of inflation, while the youth are going around for jobs. In this case, the government, instead of finding solutions for these problems, is talking about CAA. This is a sad thing."
"What the BJP-led centre government is saying is that in three countries, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, and Pakistan’s minorities, if they want citizenship of India, they will be provided; this means a large number of minorities will be brought to our country and they will be given employment and a house," the chief minister said.
"The BJP-led central government is not able to give employment to our children but wants to give it to children coming from Pakistan. We don’t have a house. There are many people homeless in India, but BJP is bringing people from Pakistan and wants to give them a home," added Kejriwal.
"If even 1.5 crore people from these minorities come to India, then where will they stay? Who will give them employment? Some people are saying this is a dirty vote-banking game, and this could benefit them for future elections (after the Lok Sabha 2024 elections). I don’t know if this is right or wrong, but the main question is why BJP is doing this," he further said.
Additionally, Kejriwal said, "They are saying citizenship will be given to people who came before 2014, but this is just the start. If this opens, then a large majority of people will come from outside."
"This gives major trouble to northeastern states, especially Assam. Their culture and language are in danger, as a lot of people from Bangladesh have come from illegal migration," added Kejriwal.
"Everyone in our country wants CAA to be retreated. In no way can we give our children’s employment to people from other countries," he argued.
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)