How PM Modi quoted Nehru, Shastri and Lohia to counter opposition on CAA

PM Narendra Modi on Thursday unleashed a full-blown attack on the opposition over the issue of Citizenship Amendment Act, accusing it of spreading fear and misinforming people on the legislation that allows non-Muslim immigrants from India’s three neighbours – Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan – to become citizens of India.

Replying to the debate in Parliament on a motion thanking President for his address to the joint sitting of both houses, PM Modi quoted statements made by Nehru, Ram Manohar Lohia and Lal Bahadur Shastri on supporting minorities facing persecution in Pakistan.

The PM also mentioned the November 25, 1947 resolution of the Congress Working Committee to say that they wanted minorities persecuted in Pakistan to be given citizenship.

Here are the top quotes made by PM Modi in his speech:

‘Was Nehru communal?’

“Pandit Nehru himself was in favour of protecting minorities in Pakistan, I want to ask Congress, was Pandit Nehru communal? Did he want a Hindu Rashtra? Nehru was a big thinker. Why did he not include all citizens but mentioned only religious minorities in the Nehru-Liaquat Agreement? The first prime minister of India (Jawaharlal Nehru) wrote to the first chief minister of Assam (Gopinath Bordoloi), saying there was a need to differentiate between Hindu refugees and Muslim migrants. Nehru was of the view that even la