Yashwant Sinha hit out at the centre over the Citizenship Amendment Act. (File)
The Citizenship Amendment Act and the proposed National Register of Citizens (NRC) are aimed at "dividing" the country on communal lines, former Union minister Yashwant Sinha said on Monday. Mr Sinha added that if Mahatma Gandhi were alive today, he would have led an agitation against Prime Minister Narendra Modi for taking "communal" decisions.
Mr Sinha, who was in Vadodara as part of his Gandhi Shanti Yatra, demanded scrapping of the Citizenship Amendment Act which aims to give Indian citizenship to non-Muslim refugees from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan.
"Several state governments want the CAA repealed and the NRC exercise dropped. It is aimed at dividing the country on communal lines. We do not want another division of the country," Mr Sinha said.
"We remained silent despite the Modi government destroying the cabinet system, ordering demonetisation, introducing GST hurriedly. But after the CAA and NRC, there is need for the youth to raise their anger on issues that will weaken the country," the former BJP leader said.
"If Mahatma Gandhi were alive today, he would have led an agitation against PM Modi because the government is taking decisions on communal lines," he said.
"Members of the Muslim community are proud of holding the tricolour in their hands. And it was Babasaheb Ambedkar who drafted the Constitution and made India a secular country. We will not allow the hidden agenda of Modi behind the CAA and NRC to succeed," Mr Sinha asserted.
Mr Sinha also questioned PM Modi for not inviting Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman for a pre-budget meeting.