Nehru promised citizenship to Pak minorities, Cong protesting CAA to protect vote bank: Shah

BJP leader Amit Shah on Monday claimed former prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru had promised citizenship to minorities from Pakistan but the Congress is now protesting the amended citizenship law because it is "afraid of its vote bank in Shaheen Bagh".

Addressing an election rally in support of the BJP candidate from Rajinder Nagar, R P Singh, he said the February 8 polls were no longer for electing assembly members and a chief minister but were a contest between two ideologies.

"On one hand, there are people who stand with Shaheen Bagh and on the other hand, there are people who enter Pakistan and avenge the death of our soldiers," he said.

In his rallies, Shah has been raising the issue of a sit-in by anti-CAA protesters at Shaheen Bagh here since December 15, asking people to vote for the BJP to show their disapproval for the stir.

On the issue of CAA, he said, "Former prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru, Mahatma Gandhi, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, Rajendra Prasad, Maulana Azad, they all promised to give citizenship to Pakistani minorities whenever they come to India."

"But, when I brought in a bill to give citizenship to them, the Congress reneged on its promise and is now protesting the CAA because they are afraid of their vote bank in Shaheen Bagh," he said.

"In Shaheen Bagh, the protesters are raising the slogans of 'Jinnah wali Azadi'... which freedom are you talking about? India attained Independence in 1947. Now, no one can divide it," Shah said.

The home minister alleged that the AAP government protected those who raised anti-national slogans at Jawaharlal Nehru University.

On Sharjeel Imam's "cut-off-Assam-from-India" remark, Shah said for 12 days, he had been asking Kejriwal if he would give sanction to prosecute the JNU student, but "he hasn't uttered a word".

The BJP leader said the Kejriwal government promised to install 15 lakh CCTVs, but only 1.5 lakh could be installed, and that too with the help of the Centre's grant.

"Kejriwal promised to deploy commandos in buses (for safety of women). But in reality, he made AAP workers wear commando uniform," he alleged.

"He said the Yamuna will be cleaned. I challenged Kejriwal to take a dip in the river at 8 am on Tuesday," he said.

Shah also accused the AAP chief of stonewalling the implementation of 'Ayushman Bharat' scheme in the national capital and delaying the work to regularise the unauthorised colonies.