Nadda also justified the non-inclusion of Muslims in the list of persecuted religious communities from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh which are covered under the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA), arguing that because Muslims are a majority in the Islamic countries, they could not be suffering from religious persecution.
“When Muslims have come to India after persecution, they have been given citizenship separately. India is humanitarian. It believes in humanitarianism. There are many, including artistes, who have been given Indian citizenship and in such cases we will continue to be sensitive to the issue,” Nadda told a pro-CAA rally in Panaji, which was attended by thousands of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) workers.
“But those who have come here after suffering (religious) persecution, where will they go? They are one of us. When they are persecuted, they will be protected by India, by (Prime Minister) Narendra Modi,” Nadda also said.
The senior BJP leader also called those questioning the exclusion of Muslims from the list of religious communities, as “close minded” and added that the decision to drop Muslims from the CAA list was justified, because they are the majority community in the three neighbouring countries which the CAA covers.
“In Pakistan, Muslims are in majority. Is not Pakistan an Islamic country? Is not Bangladesh an Islamic country? Then how can they be religiously persecuted. Hindus, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians are persecuted. We are safeguarding those who have come to India,” Nadda said.
The BJP national working president also said, that while the Muslim community had flourished in India, with the country producing more than one Muslim President, Chief Justices, Governors and Chief Ministers, the minority population in both Pakistan and Bangladesh had shrunk considerably, blaming the reducing numbers on religious persecution.
Nadda also urged Dalit leaders who are backing the anti-CAA protests to wake up to the realisation, that the CAA will enable Dalit clusters like the Matua samaj and the Rajbanshi samaj from Bengal and other low caste refugee groups in Rajasthan to merge into the Indian mainstream.
