Shared News| January 3, 2020 7:47:39 am
‘If you want to take out a procession, do it for Dalits, downtrodden, exploited who came from Pak’, Modi said addressing a gathering at Siddaganga Matha.
PM Modi at the Siddaganga Matha in Tumkur, Karnataka, Thursday. (PTI)
Holding the Opposition responsible for protests against the new citizenship law, Prime Minister Narendra Modi Thursday slammed the “Congress, its allies and the ecosystem they created” for “rising against the Indian Parliament” and protesting against “the Dalits, the downtrodden and the exploited” who came to India from Pakistan and sought refuge.
Addressing a gathering at Siddaganga Matha in Tumkur in Karnataka, Modi accused the Opposition of remaining silent on Pakistan’s “atrocities on Hindus, Sikhs, Jains and Christians” and said “jis tarah ki nafrat hum logon se karte hain, vaisa hi swar ab desh ki sansad ke khilaf dikh raha hai. In logon ne Bharat ki sansad ke khilaaf hi andolan shuru kar diya hai (The way they hate us, a similar voice can be heard against Parliament now. These people have started protesting against India’s Parliament).”
He said the protests should be against Pakistan and it was the duty of Indians to help the persecuted who fled Pakistan in search of refuge — his criticism of the Opposition for being behind the anti-CAA protests and its “silence” on Pakistan is now a refrain, coming as it does after similar remarks at public appearances at the Ramlila Maidan in Delhi and Lucknow last month.
Modi said Pakistan was created on the basis of religion and ever since its creation, its minorities were persecuted and the atrocities continued to grow. “Pakistan was created on the basis of religion, the country was divided on the basis of religion. Ever since Partition, persecution of people of other faiths began in Pakistan. Over time, religion-based atrocities against Hindus, Sikhs, Christians and Jains kept increasing. Thousands of such people had to leave their homes and seek shelter in India as refugees.”
Modi accused the Opposition of remaining silent on Pakistan’s “atrocities on Hindus, Sikhs, Jains and Christians”.
He wondered why the Congress and others, who have been protesting, have not raised their voice against what Pakistan had been doing to its minorities. “Uske khilaaf in logon ke mooh par aaj taale kyu lag gaye hain? Kyun Pakistan ke khilaaf awaaz nahi uthh rahi hai jis Pakistan ne laakho logon ko barbaad kar diya?”
“I want to say to those who are protesting against the Indian Parliament that if you want to protest, then raise your voice against what Pakistan has done in the last 70 years. If you want to take out a procession, then do it for the Dalits, the downtrodden and the exploited who have come from Pakistan,” he said.
