Congress should be bold on minority communalism: Jairam Ramesh
New Delhi/IBNS: Senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh on Thursday said his party has to be bold on the matter of minority communalism and that real secularism is not to pander anyone's religious sentiments.
Speaking to news agency PTI, Ramesh, who is a Rajya Sabha MP and Congress strategist, said: "We have to be bold and aggressive against all forms of communalism. Unfortunately in the public, the propaganda is that the Congress is soft on minority communalism."
"It is a reality. We have to address this issue. We cannot live in a make-believe world. We should wake up," the Congress leader noted.
He said the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) does not take away the rights of the minorities but rather grants citizenship selectively based on religion.
"Even though I am opposed to the CAA, I am the first to recognise that this CAA does not take away anybody's citizenship. It only grants citizenship selectively based on religion. It is what I am against," the Congress leader said.
He said he fails to understand what for the people of Shaheen Bagh (in Delhi) are protesting.
"Are they worried that their citizenship is going to be taken away from them? That's a legitimate fear. Then they should agitate against NPR, NRC. Why are they only agitating against CAA?"
Ramesh said the Congress party, that believes in "justice for all", should fight "RSS type of communalism, BJP type of communalism as also PFI and Jamaat-e-Islami type of communalism."
"We cannot be selective, we have to be upfront, bold and say minority communalism is as dangerous to India as (much as) majority communalism," he added.
Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons
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