Ram Vilas Paswan weighs in on CAA: ‘No government can strip anybody of citizenship’

Mangalore Today News Network

New Delhi, Jan 22, 2020: Ram Vilas Paswan added that the Constitution of India guarantees the right to freedom of expression which should be respected while dealing with protests.

Union minister Ram Vilas Paswan on Monday sought to dispel apprehensions about the Citizenship (Amendment) Act and the National Population Register (NPR) exercise. Paswan said that no government has the right to strip anybody of Indian citizenship, Yahoo reported.

 

"No government can dare to snatch away any person’s citizenship. It will lead to upheaval. Any regime which seeks to do so will be torn apart by the media. This is simply not possible," he said.

Paswan added that the Constitution of India guarantees the right to freedom of expression which should be respected while dealing with protests.

Paswan also claimed that it was at his instance that the Ministry of Home Affairs agreed to amend the NPR forms. The new NPR form includes columns like places of birth of parents. The NPR exercise which is slated to begin from April has triggered apprehensions that it will be the first step towards the National Register of Citizens (NRC). Home Minister Amit Shah has declared that the NRC exercise will be carried out across the country.

"Even I do not know my date of birth. Do I cease to become a citizen on that account? I had told the Home Ministry that these things will cause confusion. Now the ministry has amended the forms," he said.

Defending CAA, Paswan said that the law aims at granting citizenship to refugees and not the infiltrators. He noted non-Muslim refugees who fled Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh because of religious persecution will only be granted Indian citizenship.

When asked about the rationale behind leaving out Muslims, Paswan replied that doors of Indian citizenship are not shut for Muslims.