Bhubaneswar, Jan 17 (IANS): Senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh on Friday alleged that the Central government has enacted the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) to harass the minorities in the country.

"There was no need to bring the CAA in the country. Because, the central government already has provision to accord citizenship to a person," said Singh while addressing mediapersons here.

He said the CAA is the first step and the second step will be National Register of Citizens (NRC).

This is meant to divert attention from issues like economic slowdown and unemployment, he added.

Singh said the Narendra Modi government has failed in fulfilling the promises it had made to the people in the last six years.

While there is an economic slowdown and the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is decreasing in the country, the central government has failed to generate employment opportunities for the people, he said.

Moreover, the government has started retrenching people from the public sector undertakings, said Singh.

Attacking the Biju Janata Dal (BJD), he said there is a deep-rooted understanding between Modi and Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.

"There is an understanding between Modi and Odisha Chief Minister, which is there in Odisha that you go your way and we go our way. But when it comes to voting in the Parliament, you support BJP. Therefore, there is a deep-rooted understanding between the BJP and the BJD," said the senior Congress leader.

He said only 5T secretary V. Karthikeyan Pandian has the access to the Chief Minister while the MLAs and Ministers have no access to him.

"Is it a democracy or autocracy?" he asked.

He said that the 5T secretary has taken control of all the departments.