‘Oppn can’t hide mountain of truth with bushes of lies’

Union Minister of Minority Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi on Saturday said the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) will not be rolled back. "The CAA was passed after voting in both the houses of the parliament. There's no question of us rolling it back. Such a rollback would be unconstitutional," Naqvi said.

Naqvi said the CAA is a special Act which is only passed to provide refuge to the minorities of Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh. He also affirmed the Muslims in India need not worry as this country belongs to them as equally as it belongs to the Hindus.

“The CAA will not strip the Muslims living in India of citizenship. This Act is only aimed to give refuge to the minorities of the three neighbouring countries who had to undergo a lot of torture and are often persecuted on the basis of religion,” he added.

The Union minister was in Mumbai to hold meetings as part of the BJP's awareness campaign regarding the CAA and National Register of Citizens (NRC), in which the party aims to hold public meetings and demonstrations to make the people understand the true implication of the Act.

On Friday, the Centre formed a panel led by Naqvi, to reach out to Muslim community and allay their doubts on CAA and NRC.

Blaming the opposition, Naqvi said parties like Congress are instigating the minorities against the government by running a misinformation campaign. “It is aimed at torpedoing the peace and harmony prevailing in the country,” said Naqvi adding Opposition is trying to hide a "mountain of truth with bushes of lies".

Naqvi also met a group of Mumbai-based Muslim leaders and assured them to have faith in the BJP-led Central government.