CAA Protest: Amit Shah spoke in Shimla, Himachal Pradesh, to mark two years in power in the state
Highlights
- Amit Shah said BJP put a stop to "Aalia-Malia-Jamalia" coming from Pak
- He has used this phrase to describe Pakistanis several times in the past
- He was addressing a rally in Himachal Pradesh
Home Minister Amit Shah today accused the Congress of misleading people on the citizenship law and asserted that no one would lose their citizenship. In an all-out attack on the Congress and former prime minister Manmohan Singh, Amit Shah also said before the BJP came to power, "Aalia-Malia-Jamalia" used to come from Pakistan regularly and "kill our jawans".
Confronting massive protests over the citizenship law CAA, the National Population Register (NPR) and the National Register of Citizens (NRC) - which activists and opposition parties fear will be used as tools to target Muslims - Amit Shah put out a clarification and also threw a challenge at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi.
"No one will be stripped of their citizenship. The Congress and company are spreading rumours that the citizenship of the minorities will be taken away with the Citizenship Amendment Act," he said, addressing a rally in Shimla, Himachal Pradesh, to mark two years in power in the state.
"I challenge Rahul 'baba' to show even one clause in the Act that has provision to take away citizenship of anyone."
Under the Act there was no provision to take away the citizenship of anyone, said the Home Minister.
The CAA or Citizenship (Amendment) Act is the first-ever law to make religion a criteria for citizenship. The government says the law will help non-Muslim migrants from three neighbouring nations become Indian citizens if they fled religious persecution and entered India before 2015.
Activists, students, opposition parties and other protesters say the law discriminates against Muslims and is against the secular tenets of the constitution.
Protests against the NPR and NRC revolve around concerns that along with the new citizenship law, they will be used as tools to target Muslims. The NPR, sanctioned by the government earlier this week, is seen by critics to be a precursor to the NRC, an exercise to identify illegal migrants.
Listing the achievements of the BJP in Himachal Pradesh, Mr Shah made an often-repeated reference to what he says is the Congress government's soft response to terrorism from Pakistan.
"The Congress ruled for 10 years. Sonia Gandhi-Manmohan Singh's government was in power. Pakistan se har roz aalia-malia-jamalia ghus jaate the, hamare jawanon ke sar kaat ke le jaate the, aur desh ke Pradhan Mantri ke muh se uff nahi nikalta tha. (Every day an Aalia-Malia-Jamalia from Pakistan used to cross over, behead our soldiers and the country's Prime Minister wouldn't say a word)," said Mr Shah.
"They had left the border open. When Narendra Modi came to power, Pakistan thought things would continue like this. They didn't realise that this is no Congress government...this is the BJP government. Mauni baba (silent) Manmohan Singh was not PM anymore, Narendra Modi, of the 56-inch chest, had become Prime Minister. They made blunders by attacking Uri, Pulwama. But the Modi government showed them, by carrying out the surgical strike, air strike. We entered their home and attacked terrorists operating there," the Home Minister said.
Mr Shah has used the phrase "Aalia-Malia-Jamalia" for Pakistanis several times in the past, for example while campaigning in Uttar Pradesh and in Gujarat.