CAA: Nobody will lose citizenship, says Rajnath Singh in TN

PTI, Apr 8, 2024, 2:59 PM IST

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Monday asserted that no Indian, irrespective of their faith, will lose citizenship with the implementation of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act.

He charged the opposition Congress and DMK with ”creating confusion” over the issue.

Rajnath was speaking after taking out a roadshow here in support of the party’s Namakkal candidate for the April 19 Lok Sabha elections, KP Ramalingam.

A town in western Tamil Nadu, Namakkal is located about 400 km from state capital Chennai.

The BJP always implemented what it promised and the construction of Ram Temple at Ayodhya, abrogation of Article 370 and the CAA were such assurances, he said.

”We promised a citizenship act, and we did it. I want to clarify that any citizen of India–whether they are Hindu, Muslim, Christian, Parsi or Jew–nobody’s citizenship will go away,” he said.

”The DMK and Congress are creating confusion on the matter,” he alleged.

On the abolition of triple Talaq, he said ”mothers and sisters” from any faith are ”our mothers and sisters.” ”Any atrocity against our mothers and sisters of any religion–we stand with them and we proved this by ending triple talaq,” he said. There was no difference between BJP’s words and deeds and this manifested in the form of implementation of promises including the Ram temple.

”Ram Lalla has left his hut and arrived at his palace,” he said about the shrine that was consecrated in January, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi participating in the event.

The country has made rapid strides under PM Modi’s leadership, in areas including economy and defence.

”India is no longer a weak country. As Defence minister I want to say– we have strong confidence in the country’s army, air force and navy. If someone even bats an eyelid, our army is ready to give them a fitting reply,” Singh said.

Gone are the days when India was reliant on imports to meet its defence needs and today everything was made in the country, including fighter jets, he said.

Public welfare was also being given utmost importance by the NDA regime and various measures like assistance to farmers, construction of toilets were examples of these.

Taking on rivals Congress and DMK, he said they ”work for their family, but PM Modi works for the country.” ”For Congress and the DMK, it is family first; for BJP and NDA, it is nation first,” he added.