Akhilesh should stay in Pak to understand atrocities being faced by Hindus: UP BJP chief

Hitting out at Akhilesh Yadav for opposing the NPR and the NRC, Uttar Pradesh BJP president Swatantra Dev Singh on Wednesday said the Samajwadi Party chief should stay in Pakistan for a month to understand the atrocities being faced by Hindus there.

Singh also asserted that the amended Citizenship Act was not against the poor and accused Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra of misguiding the people on the law.

"Akhilesh should stay in Pakistan for one month and pray in Hindu temples, then he will have first hand experience of atrocities committed on Hindus in Pakistan," the state BJP chief said.

His remarks come after Yadav on December 29 said the National Population Register (NPR) and the National Register of Citizens (NRC) were against the poor and minorities of the country, while asserting that he will not fill up the NPR form.

"There is nothing wrong in the NPR as it provides simple options like presentation of Aadhaar card or driving license, etc or confirmation by three residents of the area that the person is a bonafide resident of the area," Singh told reporters at a gaushala in Vrindavan.

He also accused Yadav of ignoring his party's workers and promoting his family members.

Attacking Priyanka Gandhi, who is also a Congress general secretary, the BJP leader said, "The visit of Priyanka to victims of riots with the sole purpose of misguiding them and creating a ruckus, is objectionable, since people are misguided about the CAA."   He said there should be healthy politics as the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) is in the interest of the poor.

According to the CAA, members of Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi and Christian communities who have come from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan till December 31, 2014 and facing religious persecution there will not be treated as illegal immigrants, and be given Indian citizenship.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah are trying to provide a respectable life to people hit by atrocities in Pakistan through the citizenship law, Singh said.  Owing to the negative approach of the Congress, the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party on the CAA, neither Hindus nor Muslims will vote in their favour, he asserted.  He asked leaders of these parties and students of JNU and Jamia Millia Islamia to go through the CAA.