Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Saturday said the BJP is committed to implementing the Citizenship Amendment Act and it is a matter of time that its rules are framed. It is a Hindu's legitimate right to become a citizen in his or her motherland and the BJP fully stands by the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA), he said at the Hindustan Times Leadership Summit here.
Asked why the rules for the Act had not been framed yet, Sarma pointed out that there were people protesting against the CAA and thereafter, the coronavirus pandemic came. "It is in the process, but the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) remains committed. The Parliament has passed the legislation, it is a matter of time when you see CAA rules," he said.
The chief minister also rejected the argument that the saffron party uses it as a poll plank, saying people who would vote because of CAA would not even account for two to three parliamentary seats in the country's landscape.
"CAA is part of our commitment, it is part of our ideology. We will implement it. Somebody questioned 'where is Ram Mandir, when it will come', you have seen Ram Mandir now, somebody has questioned 'when Article 370 will go', it has gone. The same way you will see UCC (Uniform Civil Code) coming, the same way you will see CAA coming," he said.
The Citizenship (Amendment) Act provides for granting Indian citizenship to non-Muslims -- Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians -- coming from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan.
The CAA was passed by the Parliament on December 11, 2019, and the presidential nod was received the next day. Subsequently, it was notified by the Ministry of Home Affairs. However, the law is yet to be implemented as rules under the CAA are yet to be framed. Rules under a law have to be framed for its implementation.
Sarma also slammed his former party, the Congress, for electing Mallikarjun Kharge as its chief and said if Shashi Tharoor would have won the polls for the post, he would have said democracy has arrived in the Congress.
Talking about those who voted for Tharoor in the polls, Sarma said there are a lot of good-thinking people in the Congress and they will come to the BJP soon. "These 1,000 people who voted for Shashi Tharoor, I think they would be the ones joining the BJP in six months or one year," he claimed.
Rejecting the argument that the BJP does not hold democratic internal polls, Sarma said any BJP president has to go through a democratic process and that person cannot be remote-controlled. Sarma also said that in 2024, the BJP will be expanding to two-three states and this expansion will continue for another two elections. "By 2029, you will see the BJP everywhere in the country," he added.
(With PTI Inputs)
