G Kishan Reddy, a right wing Hindu nationalist leader and Indian union minister of state for home affairs made a ridicules comment against Bangladesh on Sunday, saying “half of the citizens of Bangladesh will leave the country if India offers citizenship to them,” The Indian Express reported.
Reddy said, “Half of Bangladesh will be empty (vacant) if India offers citizenship to them (Bangladeshis). Half of Bangladeshis will come over to India if citizenship is promised (to them). Who will take responsibility? K Chandrasekhar Rao? or Rahul Gandhi?."
Reddy said this outrageous comment while speaking at a religious gathering in Hyderabad, the capital of southern India's Telangana state, reports Press Trust of India.
Reddy also challenged Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao, who appealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to rethink on the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) law, asking him to prove in what way the CAA was against the people living in India.
"They seek citizenship for infiltrators. Indian government is ready to review the CAA if it has one word against anyone of the 1.3 billion citizens, but not for Pakistani or Bangladeshi Muslims," PTI quoted Reddy as saying.
The Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the National Citizens’ Register (NRC) were a key part of the election manifesto of Modi's ruling Hindu nationalist party.
Indian government believes the legislation is needed to protect refugees across south Asia. The CAA aims to fast-track citizenship for persecuted Hindus, Parsis, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains and Christians who arrived in India before December 31, 2014, from Muslim-majority Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan.
Clashes between protesters and police leaving at least 25 dead have been a regular occurrence since December 12, when the government passed the legislation.
Tens of thousands protested in India’s financial hub of Mumbai, as well as Lucknow, the capital of populous Uttar Pradesh state which has seen the highest number of deaths since the unrest began. Both were predominantly female-led.
