CAA falsehoods being spread by keeping women in front: Yogi Adityanath

“The Citizenship (Amendment) Act is not a law against any citizen of India. It is against intruders who are responsible for terrorism, extremism and separatism. This is being done by keeping women at the forefront. We cannot remain silent in this environment. It is our constitutional obligation to reach out to people regarding the issue,” he said.

The Chief Minister’s remark comes days after women started gathering in Old Lucknow to protest against the new law on the lines of the sit-in at Shaheen Bagh in Delhi. “The conduct of Congress and SP is condemnable and irresponsible. These parties have financed the miscreants for opposing the CAA,” said Adityanath.

Accusing the Congress, SP and other Opposition parties of “spreading lies to mislead the nation just like what the Left parties did after Independence”, he said, “The way people of the country understood the lies of the Left and buried them forever, on the same lines, these parties are also standing on their last political rung.”

The CM also blamed the Congress for the exodus of Kashmiris Pandits from the Valley.

“It was because of Congress’s sin that 4.5 lakh Kashmiri Pandits were forced to flee Kashmir. Today is the 30th anniversary of it (the exodus). If Article 370 was not in force, no one could have forced the Kashmiri Pandits to leave Kashmir. It was because of Article 370 that stone-pelters used to attack Army jawans. But today, stone-pelters have disappeared and so have the terrorists. Now, (Pakistan Prime Minister) Imran Khan is running around the world, saying that India may attack and disintegrate Pakistan into pieces. And Indian jawans now say with pride that the day the government gives orders, Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK) will be made a part of India,” Adityanath said.

Read | From anti-CAA protests, to JNU and Jamia, why women are leading the fight

He also alleged that Article 370 was brought by the Congress through “deceit” and against the wishes of Dr B R Ambedkar.

“On one side, there were policies for uplifting the poor, on the other side, development policies, and on the third side, giving respect to feelings that were suppressed inside people for years. You must have seen how it has been done. This second term (of BJP government at the Centre) is for people’s aspirations. What were people’s aspirations? In Kashmir, Article 370 was brought in by Congress through deceit despite Babasaheb Ambedkar’s opposition to it. There has been demand to remove the Article since 1952. No government could think of scrapping Article 370,” he said, thanking Prime Minister Narendra Modi for scrapping the special status of Jammu and Kashmir.

“The citizenship law gave the Congress an opportunity to repent for its sin, but it missed this chance,” he added.

Adityanath also accused the Congress of delaying the verdict in the Ayodhya issue. “For 500 years, every Hindu wanted the construction of a Ram Temple in Ayodhya. First the Mughals, then the British kept delaying it. The Congress also wanted to delay it, but the Supreme Court gave a historic judgment. People used to say that rivers of blood will flow when the verdict comes, but we said that not a mosquito will die,” Adityanath added.