Supporters of the Bhim Army (above) take part in a march demanding the release of their leader Chandrasekhar Azad and protest against the amended Citizenship Act, NRC and NPR in New Delhi on Friday. (Photo: PRITAM BANDYOPADHYAY)

New Delhi: As anti-Citizenship Amendment Act protests raged across the country, the government made it clear that it was in no mood to relent. Home minister Amit Shah on Friday accused the Congress of misleading people on the citizenship law, and declared that no one would lose their citizenship due to this law. He challenged Congress leader Rahul Gandhi to prove that the CAA has a single clause to take away anyone’s citizenship.

In an all-out attack on the Congress and former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Mr Shah said at a rally in Shimla that the Congress had “failed to secure the country” and that before the BJP came to power, any “Aalia-Malia-Jamalia” used to come from Pakistan and “kill our jawans”, but Indian PM (Dr Singh) had kept silent.

“Congress ki sarkar 10 saal chali, Sonia-Manmohan ji ki sarkar chali, Pakistan se har roz aalia-malia-jamalia ghus jate the, hamare jawanon ke sar kaat ke le jaate the, aur desh ke Pradhan Mantri ke muh se uff nahi nikalta tha,” said Mr Shah, adding that the borders were left unguarded. He said things changed after Narendra Modi came to power and “Pakistan mein ghus kar atanwadiyon ko khatam kya”.

“The Congress and company is spreading rumours that Muslims may lose their citizenship. I challenge Rahul Baba... let me know if there is even a single line in the act regarding the withdrawal of anyone’s citizenship,” said Mr Shah at the rally marking the Himachal BJP government’s second anniversary.

The Congress has, meanwhile, decided to hold flag marches and programmes to read the Constitution all over the country on its foundation day on Saturday. Former pary chief Rahul Gandhi will lead a protest in Guwahati, that has been rocked by agitations ever since the CAA was passed. Speaking at a function in Chhattisgarh on Friday, he attacked
plans to update the National Population Register, which he has called a “backdoor” to bring in the National Register of Citizens, and said: “This is a tax on poor people. Just like demonetisation, they will be forced to stand in lines. Poor people are now asking where are the jobs? How will we get employment?”

The BJP reacted strongly to Mr Gandhi’s remark that the NPR-NRC was a “tax”. Senior BJP leader and Union minister Prakash Javadekar said that they have “embarrassed” people and his Congress Party. The minister said the NPR does not involve any monetary transaction and its data is used to identify the poor so that government welfare schemes could reach them.

AICC general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, who will be in Lucknow for the flag march, also reacted to the NPR controversy, and took on Mr Shah over his “understand the chronology” remark, saying that “Youngistan will not budge.”

“Understand the chronology... First they will promise you two crore jobs. Then they will form the government. Then they will destroy your universities. Then they will destroy the country’s Constitution. Then you will protest. Then they will call you a ‘fool’,  but youngistan will not budge,” Ms Vadra tweeted.

Making an attempt to douse the fire and address the fears of people over the CAA, Mr Shah said the CAA has no provision to take away the citizenship of the minorities, but to provide citizenship to minorities facing religious persecution in Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan. He urged Muslims to read the CAA, that was now available on the government’s website: “Go through the Act. No one will lose citizenship.”

He repeated his oft-spoken argument that the Nehru-Liaquat pact was signed in 1950 for the protection of minorities in India and Pakistan, but not just Pakistan but Bangladesh and Afghanistan too failed to protect their minorities, which is why India had to step in.