Clearing misconceptions on amended Citizenship Act or CAA allegedly being fuelled by opposition parties, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday clarified that the law is about giving rights and not about taking them away.
Speaking on the occasion of the birth anniversary of Swami Vivekananda, the day when India celebrates National Youth Day across the country, Modi said youth and other citizens of the country are being misled on the CAA which came into force on Friday almost a month after Parliament passed it on December 11.
"CAA is a law to provide citizenship, it does not snatch citizenship. The government is providing citizenship through the law, it is not taking back the citizenship of anyone," Modi said while addressing youth at Belur Math.
The Prime Minister said that the CAA provides citizenship to those migrants who faced persecution in the name of religion in Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan. "The people who believe in the Constitution of India will be given citizenship on the basis of certain legalities."
He said that the government is following the path shown by Mahatma Gandhi and the new citizenship law is facilitating those migrants facing persecution.
The Prime Minister's remarks related to CAA came in the backdrop of violent protests in different cities across the country against the law which experts say is against the Muslim community.
He also called upon the youth to clear misconceptions from the minds of people about the new law.
The law grants citizenship to migrants of six non-Muslim communities -- Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi and Christian -- from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan till December 31, 2014.
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