Days after Congress leader P Chidambaram said his party will repeal the Citizenship (Amendment) Act if voted to power, Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday said that since the grand old party cannot contest elections on the basis of development, they are resorting to their tried-and-tested formula of appeasement politics for electoral gains.
Speaking to ANI news agency, Amit Shah said, “Since the 1960s, Congress made appeasement politics its weapon to win elections. We had been fighting against this for years. Since 2014, PM Modi set the development agenda among people and elections began in the country on the basis of that. Congress is facing difficulty in contesting elections on the basis of development, they have continuously lost elections. They want to go ahead once again on the basis of appeasement politics.”
Chidambaram on Sunday had said that the CAA will be repealed in the first session of Parliament if the INDIA bloc forms the government at the Centre. He said the intention of the Congress party is to repeal the CAA even though it is not mentioned in its manifesto.
The former Union minister had also cited the three criminal laws as among the Acts the opposition will repeal, amend or review if it is voted to power.
Slamming Chidambaram, Shah said that the senior Congress leader only talks about scrapping the legislation but has not been able to mention shortcomings in the CAA.
“Chidambaram doesn’t say what are the shortcomings of CAA, he just says that they will scrap it. Why? Because they have to strengthen their minority vote bank,” added Shah.
Accusing the Congress of misleading people on CAA, Shah said while the BJP is against appeasement, it will not not do injustice to anyone.
“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,” he added.
Shah said Congress’ and Chidambaram’s intentions of repealing CAA will never reach fruition as the people of this country have understood them well.
“People have understood the Congress party well,” said the Home Minister.
Talking about the criminal laws, Shah said that Chidambaram himself was a part of the committee and had given positive suggestions several times and even appreciated the laws.
“The three laws will make the country’s criminal justice system the most modern in the world…Congress doesn’t want results for corruption cases. It wants justice to remain pending. But BJP’s and PM 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,” said Shah.
Assuring the people of implementing these laws, he said that the Congress is neither going to come to power nor going to make decisions.
“Congress is neither going to come to power nor going to make decisions. I assure people of the country, CAA will remain and three (criminal) laws will be implemented. Every citizen will get justice within 3 years – such a justice system will be ensured. Every refugee will get citizenship. There is no doubt about it,” said Shah
He also advised Congress leaders to rise above appeasement politics and perform on the agenda of development.
“I would like to suggest Congress leaders, you have lost elections several times, rise out of appeasement politics and try to perform on the agenda of development,” he added.
With inputs from agencies
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