'Govt open to suggestions in effecting changes in implementing CAA if there are problems': Athawale
"NRC is only for Assam, not all over India”
Bengaluru, Dec 23: Republican Party of India (A) chief and Union minister Ramdas Athawale on Monday said the NRC was only for Assam and not for the whole country and indicated that the government was open to suggestions in effecting changes in implementing CAA if there are problems.
"NRC is only for Assam, it is not all over India.
Now the government of India has also said that any suggestions from anywhere can be conveyed to them in this regard....
My party also supports the NRC and CAA. But if there are any problems, definitely the government of India should think at amending some things in (implementing) this law " Athawale said.
His comments came a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi sought to allay fears, especially among Muslims, on the NRC, saying his government has never discussed it since coming to power for the first time in 2014.
The issue was neither discussed in Parliament nor came up in the cabinet, the Prime Minister had said.
Assuring the Muslim community that the law was not against them, Athawale said the government wanted unity among Hindus, Muslims and other communities in the country.
"Prime Minister Narendra Modi has clearly said that we are not against the Muslim community.
Many programmes of his government like Ujwala and Jan Dhan, among others, have not differentiated between Hindus and Muslims....Muslims are also beneficiaries of several such programmes.
NDA government fully supports the Muslim community."
Athawale alleged that the Congress, Left parties, the Samajawadi Party, Trinamool Congress were misguiding the Muslim community as they are worried over Narendra Modi's re-election and were hence trying to create problems to destabilize the government.
Different parts of the country have been witnessing violent protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill which was passed by Parliament and given assent by the President recently.
According to the Act, 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, but given Indian citizenship.
The act says refugees of the six communities will be given Indian citizenship after residing in India for five years, instead of the earlier 11 years.
He lauded the Muslim community for maintaining peace and abiding by the law on issues triple talaq, revoking special status to Jammu and Kashmir and Babri masjid-Rama Janmabhoomi verdict.
Athawale said the altercation between Jamia Millia Islamia University students and police led to disturbance in peace this time, as he stressed on the need for inquiry into the incident.
He assured the Muslim community that the Republican Party would firmly stand behind them.
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South African police arrest suspect in mass shooting that killed 12, including 3 children
Johannesburg (AP): A 32-year-old suspect has been arrested in connection with a mass shooting which claimed the lives of 12 people including three children at an unlicensed pub earlier this month, South African police said on Monday.
The man is suspected of being one of the three people who opened fire on patrons in a pub at Saulsville township, west of South Africa's capital Pretoria, killing 12 people including three children aged 3, 12 and 16.
At least 13 people were also injured during the attack, whose motive remains unknown.
According to the police, the suspect was arrested on Sunday while traveling to Botlokwa in Limpopo province, more than 340 km from where the mass shooting took place on Dec 6.
An unlicensed firearm believed to have been used during the attack was recovered from the suspect's vehicle.
“The 32-year-old suspect was intercepted by Limpopo Tracking Team on the R101 Road in Westenburg precinct. During the arrest, the team recovered an unlicensed firearm, a hand gun, believed to have been used in the commission of the multiple murders. The firearm will be taken to the Forensic Science Laboratory for ballistic analysis,” police said in statement.
The suspect was arrested on the same day that another mass shooting at a pub took place in the Bekkersdal township, west of Johannesburg, in which nine people were killed and 10 wounded when unknown gunmen opened fire on patrons.
Police have since launched a search for the suspects.
South Africa has one of the highest homicide rates in the world and recorded more than 26,000 homicides in 2024 — an average of more than 70 a day. Firearms are by far the leading cause of death in homicides.
The country of 62 million people has relatively strict gun ownership laws, but many killings are committed with illegal guns, according to authorities.
According to police, mass shootings at unlicensed bars are becoming a serious problem. Police shut down more than 11,000 illegal taverns between April and September this year and arrested more than 18,000 people for involvement in illegal liquor sales.
