New Delhi, Apr 23: Coming down hard on Congress leader P Chidambaram over his remarks on the Citizenship Amendment Act, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said on Tuesday that they have been fighting against Congress’ appeasement politics for years and the Congress should rise out of it and try to perform on the agenda of development.
Amit Shah told ANI that Congress wants to scrap the CAA just to appease their vote bank.
“Since the 1960s, Congress has made appeasement politics its weapon to win elections. We had been fighting against this for years. Since 2014, PM Modi has set the development agenda among people and elections began in the country based on that. Congress is facing difficulty in contesting elections based on development; they have continuously lost elections. They want to go ahead once again based on appeasement politics. Chidambaram doesn’t say what the shortcomings of CAA are; he just says that they will scrap it. Why? Because they have to strengthen their minority vote bank,” he said.
He added further that Chidambaram’s intentions will never be fulfilled as the people have understood the Congress party well.
“BJP stands firm on its principles. We will not do injustice to anyone. We will do justice. But we will not do appeasement either. I don’t understand what objection Congress has to CAA. The CAA will not take away anyone’s citizenship; they are misleading people. They want to win elections by indulging in appeasement politics. I would like to tell Chidambaram that his intentions will never come to fruition. People have understood the Congress party well,” Shah added.
He emphasised further that CAA will remain and the three criminal laws will be implemented.
“Congress is neither going to come to power nor going to make decisions. I assure the people of the country that CAA will remain and three (criminal) laws will be implemented. Every citizen will get justice within three years; such a justice system will be ensured. Every refugee will get citizenship. There is no doubt about it. I would like to suggest that Congress leaders, who have lost elections several times, rise out of appeasement politics and try to perform on the agenda of development,” the Union Home Minister said.
Responding to the question on three new criminal laws, the Union Home Minister said that Chidambaram was a part of the committee and had given suggestions and even appreciated them.
“As far as three laws (criminal laws) are concerned, Chidambaram himself was a part of the committee. He had given positive suggestions several times and even appreciated them. The three laws will make the country’s criminal justice system the most modern in the world. Congress doesn’t want results in corruption cases. It wants justice to remain pending. But the BJP’s and Narendra Modi’s policies are clear: every citizen has the constitutional right to get justice in the least amount of time. We are dedicated to doing that,” Amit Shah said.
Earlier at a news conference in Thiruvananthipuram on April 21, P Chidambaram had said that if the INDIA bloc comes to power at the Centre, it will repeal the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the three criminal laws brought in by the by the BJP government.