Former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Wednesday said no force in the world can stop the implementation of Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and went on to describe Prime Minister Narendra Modi as a lion who does not fear threats.
“No force in the world can stop the implementation of Citizenship Amendment Act. Narendra Modi is the Prime Minister who does not fear threats. He is a lion. If Narendra Modi is Lord Ram, then Amit Shah is Lord Hanuman,” Chouhan said in Bhopal according to ANI.
Last month in Jaipur, Chouhan had compared Modi to God for bringing the CAA and enabling Indian citizenship for non-Muslims from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh who arrived in India on or before December 31, 2014.
The CAA which was passed by Parliament in December came into force on January 10. The amended law has sparked protests in various parts of the country by students, women and opposition parties who say that is discriminatory, divisive and unconstitutional because it makes religion a test of citizenship. Protesters have demanded that the government scrap the law.
Four non-BJP ruled states – Bengal, Rajasthan, Kerala and Punjab have passed resolutions in their legislative assemblies against the Citizenship Act. Kerala has moved the Supreme Court against the law.
The government has adopted a hardline on the CAA with Union home minister Amit Shah insisting that there was no question of withdrawing the legislation. The BJP has accused the opposition parties of misleading the public about the CAA and has repeatedly stressed that the law is only about conferring citizenship and not taking it away.
Opponents of the law maintain that the CAA in conjunction with the National Register of Citizens (NRC) can leave large number of Muslims stateless.
On Tuesday, the European Parliament in a draft resolution said the CAA was “discriminatory in nature and dangerously divisive” and called on the government to repeal “discriminatory amendments”.
