Home Minister Amit Shah was addressing an event in Delhi today.
Highlights
- Amit Shah blamed "Tukde-Tukde gang" for the violence in Delhi
- Opposition misleading people on Citizenship Act, he said
- People in Delhi should punish "Tukde-Tukde" gang, he said
Blaming the Congress for spreading rumours in Delhi over the amended Citizenship Act, Home Minister Amit Shah on Thursday held the rival party responsible for violence in the last few weeks as he said: "It's time to teach Delhi's tukde-tukde gang a lesson." He asked the people in the national capital - where elections are due early next year - to punish the Congress.
"Citizenship Amendment Act was discussed in the parliament. Nobody (the opposition leaders) said anything... Once they were out (of parliament), they started misleading people," Mr Shah said while addressing an event in Delhi.
"I want to say that it's time to punish the tukde-tukde gang led by the Congress. They are to be blame for the violence in the city. People in Delhi should punish them," he further said, raising the poll pitch. "Tukde-Tukde" is a term coined by the right-wing parties to attack the opposition parties and those who support them.
Mr Shah also attacked the ruling Aam Admi Party and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. "Arvind Kejriwal had promised he would not take a bungalow or a car and several other such things, but he took them all. His government has not completed 80 per cent of the welfare work that he promised in 2015," Mr Shah said. The ruling AAP launched a counter-attack in a tweet listing the Arvind Kejriwal government's achievements.
Amid widespread protests against the new citizenship law that cleared parliament earlier this month, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday had also blamed the Congress.
"The Congress and its allies -- some urban Naxals -- are spreading rumours that all Muslims will be sent to detention centers... Neither is anybody sending the country's Muslims to detention centres nor are there any detention centres in India...," PM Modi said as he launched the BJP's campaign for assembly elections in Delhi at a mega rally. The BJP is eyeing a comeback in the national capital after two decades.
The Citizenship (Amendment) Act makes religion the test of citizenship in India for the first time. The government says it will help minorities from three Muslim-dominated countries to get citizenship if they fled to India because of religious persecution. Critics say it is designed to discriminate against Muslims and violates the secular principles of the constitution.