'Was Nehru communal as he wanted to protect religious minorities from Pak': Modi to Congress
New Delhi, Feb 6: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday hit out at the Congress in Lok Sabha over its opposition to the CAA and asked if first premier Jawaharlal Nehru could be described as "communal" for seeking citizenship for religious minorities from Pakistan.
Replying to a debate on Motion of Thanks to the President's Address, Modi said that even Nehru had wanted Indian citizenship for religious minorities from Pakistan as he defended the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).
He said 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.
Modi said Nehru was of the view that even laws can be changed in this regard.
He said Nehru had wanted to defend minorities in then West Pakistan and East Pakistan (now Bangladesh).
"Was he communal, did he want to create a Hindu Rashtra...I want to ask the Congress," the prime minister said.
He said Nehru was a big thinker. Why did he not include all citizens but mentioned only religious minorities in the Nehru-Liaquat Agreement? Modi asked.
Liaquat Ali Khan was the then prime minister of Pakistan.
He said his government is saying today what Nehru had said decades ago.
Modi said the government was fulfilling the wishes of the founding fathers.
While referring to the Citizenship Amendment Act, President Ram Nath Kovind in his address to the joint sitting of Parliament on January 31 had said that Mahatma Gandhi was in favour of bringing back religious minorities facing persecution in Pakistan.
Participating in the debate on the Motion of Thanks, Shashi Tharoor of the Congress had said Mahatma Gandhi was only partially quoted by the government to defend the amended law.
The prime minister went on to cite examples of Bhupendra Kumar Dutta and Jogendra Nath Mandal, two freedom fighters who decided to stay back in Pakistan after the Partition.
Modi said Dutta told the constituent assembly of Pakistan that Hindus were being targeted in that country.
Dutta later migrated to India before his death.
Mandal was the first law minister of Pakistan and he too flagged systematic ethnic targeting of religious minorities in Pakistan, Modi said.
The prime minister said that he in his youth had touched the feet of Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan (popularly called Frontier Gandhi in Pakistan) and named other greats such as Ashfaqullah Khan, Begum Hazrat Mahal and A P J Abdul Kalam to assert that they were all Indians.
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Police arrested Kejriwal's aide at same time his anticipatory bail plea was being heard: Atishi
New Delhi (PTI): Delhi Minister Atishi alleged on Saturday that the city police arrested Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's aide Bibhav Kumar at the same time his anticipatory bail plea was being heard in court.
Kumar was arrested on Saturday in connection with the alleged assault on AAP Rajya Sabha member Swati Maliwal, officials said.
He was picked up from the chief minister's residence by a Delhi Police team around noon, a senior officer said.
Addressing a press conference, Atishi said Kumar had filed a plea for anticipatory bail before the Tis Hazari court.
Kumar was picked up for questioning by the Delhi Police around 11 am. As soon as he was taken for questioning, news channels started saying he had been arrested, she claimed.
"This shows the BJP's conspiracy. Their intention is to disturb our election campaign and Arvind Kejriwal," she said.
Atishi said the Tis Hazari court considered Kumar's matter urgent and agreed to hear his plea on Saturday itself.
"The court commenced hearing on his plea at 3:55 pm and within 20 minutes, the Delhi Police arrested him at the Civil Lines police station. As soon as his lawyers began arguments, the police learnt that their case is weak and Kumar would get relief. So they arrested Kumar," she claimed.
Atishi alleged that when the court was dictating its order on the matter at 4:55 pm, the Delhi Police lawyer appeared through videoconferencing and said Kumar had already been arrested.
Kumar's anticipatory bail plea has become "infructuous" as he has been arrested, the court observed.
The chief minister's aide, accused of assaulting Maliwal on May 13 at Kejriwal's residence, was arrested two days after an FIR was registered against him at the Civil Lines police station.
Additional Sessions Judge Sushil Anuj Tyagi, while dictating the order to the court staff on the anticipatory bail plea, noted that Additional Public Prosecutor Atul Kumar Srivastava appeared through videoconferencing around 4:45 pm and informed the court that Kumar had already been arrested.
Atishi said, "Even they knew that their case was weak and if the case was heard, Bibhav Kumar would get bail. That is why tomorrow (Sunday) Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal will lead all AAP leaders and to the BJP headquarters and court arrest."
Kejriwal said he and other AAP leaders would go to the BJP headquarters on Sunday "so that the prime minister can send anyone he wants to jail".
The BJP is saying they would send AAP MP Raghav Chadha and Delhi ministers Atishi and Saurabh Bharadwaj to jail, he claimed at a press briefing, hours after Kumar was arrested.
