NEW DELHI: “I have told the district administration and railway authorities concerned that if anybody destroys public property, they can be shot at sight. I am giving this directive as a Union Minister,” Suresh Angadi, the Union Minister of State for Railways, told news agency ANI.
Suresh Angadi on Tuesday warned the concerned district administration and railway authorities to ‘shoot’ at sight if anybody destroys the public property. “I strictly warn concerned district administration and railway authorities, if anybody destroys public property, including railway, I direct as a Minister, shoot them at sight”, Angadi told ANI while replying to a question regarding the railway facing losses in West Bengal and other states due to the ongoing protests in the region.
Mr Angadi said that such violence cannot be condoned when the Railways already suffers major losses in West Bengal and the Northeast. “As many as 13 lakh employees work there day and night to ensure that people have good transport facilities. But some anti-social elements supported by the opposition are creating problems,” he said, demanding that the government take stringent action against protesters “like Vallabhbhai Patel would have”.
.Union Home Minister Amit Shah today refused to back down in the face of nationwide protests against the amended Citizenship Act, saying that the centre will do everything in its power to provide citizenship to migrants from persecuted communities in neighbouring countries.
“Come what may, the Modi government will ensure that these refugees get Indian citizenship and live as Indians with honour,” Amit Shah said at a rally in Delhi’s Dwarka, even as fresh protests against the law broke out against the controversial law in Seelampur.
The amended law aims to provide citizenship to non-Muslim migrants from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh who came to India until December 31, 2014. While rights activists and opposition parties allege that it discriminates on communal lines, stakeholders in the Northeast claim that the move will throw open the floodgates for illegal migrants into the region.
Violent protests that began in the Northeast against the law eventually shifted to the national capital, culminating in a police crackdown on the Jamia Millia Islamia University [1] that sparked further agitations across the country.
Amit Shah said “I want to tell our students as well as Muslim brothers and sisters that there’s nothing to fear. Nobody is going to lose Indian citizenship. The legislation is on the website for everybody to read. We believe in sabka saath, sabka vikas and injustice will not be done to anybody,” he said, accusing the opposition Congress of trying to mislead the people.
The Home Minister maintained that the sole purpose of the law was to give citizenship to those who faced persecution in Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan. “Although these people were supposed to be given protection by Pakistan under the Nehru-Liaqat Pact, it did not happen. Where can they seek refuge — the Hindus, Sikhs and other minorities — if not India?” he asked, telling opposition politicians to take a first-hand look at their living conditions.
Addressing a rally in Jharkhand earlier today, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had challenged the opposition parties to either openly announce that they are “ready to grant Indian citizenship to every Pakistani” or take steps to restore Jammu and Kashmir’s special status.
Four days after people protesting the amended Citizenship Act set fire to a railway station in Bengal’s Murshidabad, a Union Minister today warned that anybody resorting to such acts would be shot at sight by the authorities.
Railway services between West Bengal and Northeast were brought to a complete halt on Monday on account of ongoing agitations. Officials said all trains heading from Howrah, Sealdah and Kolkata stations to north Bengal have also been suspended until further notice, keeping in mind the safety of passengers.Earlier today, as many as 17 Odisha-bound trains were cancelled in view of the ongoing agitation.
(With Agency Inputs ).
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