Taking a step away from the manifesto, Congress leader P. Chidambaram said on Monday that Congress will repeal the CAA in the first session of parliament if the INDIA Bloc is elected in the upcoming Lok Sabha Elections.
In a political argument, CPI (M) has time and again criticized the Congress party for not mentioning the CAA in their manifesto even when they constantly talk about the Muslim population in their speeches. However, Chidambaram reasoned for not mentioning the CAA “because it became too long.”
CPI(M) is an ally in the INDIA Bloc and has been a critic of the Congress party for a long time. Chidambaram alleged that the CPI(M) was fighting this election in Kerala as if it were a state election. He said, “And from a national point of view, who is better placed to fight the BJP and form a government in Delhi? Who is better placed to fight the BJP across India? It is obviously the Congress and not the CPI(M). The CPI(M) is literally a single-state party now.”
Polling will be held on April 26 in Kerala for the Lok Sabha election, and the nationwide results will be declared on June 4.
“There is a long list of laws, among which five laws will be absolutely repealed. Take it from me, I am the chairman of the manifesto committee. I wrote every word of it, and I know what the intention was. The CAA will be repealed, not amended. We have made it clear,” Mr. Chidambaram said. The Congress leader mentioned that the judiciary of the country is being controlled by the center. He accused the BJP of using their “brute power” to damage the country.
“Modi Damaged the Country”
“In the last 10 years of the Modi government, 32 journalists have been killed, dozens arrested, and tried,“ Chidambaram said. He also made remarks on the adversities journalism is facing in the country at the moment, where the mainstream is owned by corporations and those who speak the truth are put behind bars, while those who turn to social media to express their views face deletion of their posts.
Chidambaram made the same remarks as he had on April 15, repeating how the BJP is going against the constitution of India. He had said, “Every time they (BJP) are faced with a concrete set of plans, programs from the Congress, they will accuse the Congress of being a gang that is trying to break up the country. Who broke up Jammu and Kashmir? It is the BJP that broke J&K into three parts and they were on the verge of losing the case in the Supreme Court when they instructed their lawyer to tell the Supreme Court, please don’t pronounce a decision, we will hold elections. In fact, it is the BJP’s manifesto, especially on the common civil code, that will create divisions between one community and another community, and these divisions will eventually lead to hate speeches, resentment, anger, and conflict.”
When asked whether the Ayodhya Ram temple inauguration will have any impact on the elections, Mr. Chidambaram said he hopes not.
“Ayodhya now has a temple. We are happy. People wanted the temple, and a temple has come up. That should be the end of the story. Why should a temple in Ayodhya play a role in politics or in elections, and who should rule the country? It should have no role at all,” Mr. Chidambaram said. The Congress leader appealed to the people to vote for the INDIA bloc.
“Neither Congress will ever come to office nor..
Hitting back on the remarks on repealing CAA made by Mr. P. Chidambaram, Amit Shah accused the Congress of playing for the vote bank. He said,”Neither Congress will ever come to office nor the five laws enacted for public welfare will ever be revoked,” Shah said.
“Since the 1960s, Congress has made appeasement politics its weapon to win elections. We have been fighting against this for years. Since 2014, PM Modi has set the development agenda among the people, and elections began in the country based on that. Congress is facing difficulty in contesting elections based on development; they have continuously lost elections. They want to go ahead once again based on appeasement politics. Chidambaram doesn’t say what the shortcomings of CAA are; he just says that they will scrap it. Why? Because they have to strengthen their minority vote bank,” he said.
“BJP stands firm on its principles. We will not do injustice to anyone. We will do justice. But we will not do appeasement either. I don’t understand what objection Congress has to CAA. The CAA will not take away anyone’s citizenship; they are misleading people. They want to win elections by indulging in appeasement politics. I would like to tell Chidambaram that his intentions will never come to fruition. People have understood the Congress party well,” Shah added.
Asked about three new criminal laws, the Union Home Minister said, “As far as the three laws (criminal laws) are concerned, Chidambaram himself was a part of the committee. He had given positive suggestions several times and even appreciated them. The three laws will make the country’s criminal justice system the most modern in the world. Congress doesn’t want results in corruption cases. It wants justice to remain pending. But the BJP’s and Narendra Modi’s policies are clear: every citizen has the constitutional right to get justice in the least amount of time. We are dedicated to doing that,” Amit Shah said.
