Bhubaneswar, Feb 28 (IANS): Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday accused the opposition parties of spreading falsehood and fuelling riots in the name of Citizenship Amendmen Act (CAA).
"Opposition is spreading falsehood, provoking the people and fueling riots in the name of CAA (Citizenship Amendment Act). I can assure people, especially the members of minority communities, that the Act will not take away anyone's citizenship," said Shah while addressing a rally here.
The rally assumed significance after the Delhi violence, which has led to the killing of several people.
"I repeat, CAA will not snatch away the citizenship status from the Muslim community and other minorities, but will give citizenship to people who are subjected to religious persecution in neighbouring countries," said Shah.
He said opposition parties' claim that CAA will affect the rights of Muslims is false and baseless.
"Opposition is against CAA. They say minorities will lose citizenship. Why are they lying? I want to make it clear that CAA is a law about giving citizenship," said Shah.
He said the Modi government has addressed several issues stuck in the past 70 years, including repeal of provisions of Article 370 that gave special status to Jammu and Kashmir.
Speaking on the Ram temple, Shah said the Modi government has formed a trust to build the temple.
"Whenever the issue of Ram Mandir cropped up, the Congress kept dilly-dallying. But PM Modi recently constituted a trust which has opened doors for the construction of Ram Mandir and Ram Mandir will be made where Lord Ram was born," he said.
Speaking on Odisha, Shah said the Modi government would leave no stone unturned to develop the mineral-rich state.
"Modi ji has brought a very big plan in his second term. Clean piped drinking water will be supplied to every household in the country by 2024. Odisha will be the biggest beneficiary of the scheme", he added.
Alleging that the then Congress government at the Centre had ignored the state, he said the BJP government has granted more fund in every sector for the development of the state.