Sanjay Raut quotes Martin Luther King, launches veiled attack on Centre

Amid ceaseless unrest across India over the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut launched a sharp attack against the BJP-led Central government on Monday. Taking to Twitter, Raut called out the Central government for creating religious divide in the country. Targeting the Narendra Modi-led government over the new citizenship law, Raut quoted Martin Luther King's line which roughly translates to: "A nation is said to be great if all religious issues are solved through a political solution, but if politics create religious issues then one should understand that the country is run by the wrong government."

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Earlier in a Sunday morning tweet, the Rajya Sabha MP from Maharashtra quoted Rahat Indori's poetry line. The tweet translates to: "Everyone's blood is mixed with the soil here. India is not anyone's inherent property." Earlier, he had accused the BJP of trying to create religious divide in the name of vote bank politics.

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Anti-CAA agitation

The BJP government has drawn huge flak from citizens across India against the CAA that fast-tracks citizenship for non-Muslim immigrants from neighbouring Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh. The government says the law is necessary to provide relief to thousands of people fleeing persecution in those countries because of their faith. Opponents of the law contend that the bill purposely leaves out Muslim immigrants and does not provide relief to those fleeing similar persecution in neighbouring Sri Lanka and Myanmar.

The protests initially began as peaceful mass agitation in Assam after the law as a bill was introduced in Parliament. However, it took a violent turn after the Parliament passed it and the CAB received Presidential assent. Since December 11, over a dozen people have been reported dead in clashes between protesters and police force across India, the highest toll coming from BJP-ruled Uttar Pradesh. Protests were also held in various parts of Maharashtra, particularly Mumbai, where thousands thronged to the streets demanding a rollback of the law.

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