New Delhi, 14 March 2024:
Aam Aadmi Party National Convenor and Delhi Chief Minister Shri Arvind Kejriwal today hit out at Union Home Minister Shri Amit Shah, saying that who will provide employment, houses, and resources to crores of people migrating from Pakistan and Bangladesh when the youth of our country are jobless.
Referring to the notification of the CAA rules by the Centre on Monday, Shri Arvind Kejriwal told media persons that Wednesday he held a press conference to explain how the CAA is a very dangerous law for the country and it should be withdrawn. “This morning, Home Minister Shri Amit Shah has issued a statement on the press conference I held yesterday. To answer the same, I am addressing you today. I heard his statement from the honourable Home Minister. In his entire statement he did not answer even a single question that I had raised yesterday. He has only abused me, Kejriwal is corrupt… Leave me, I am not important. The country is important, 140 crore people of the country are important and let us talk about them,” he said.
The AAP National Convenor said yesterday his fundamental question was how crores of migrants from Pakistan and Bangladesh could be settled here when the people of our own country were suffering without jobs and houses, but the Union Home Minister chose not to answer that. “I want to ask you that today we, the entire country and all the governments together are unable to provide employment to the children of our country. You want to bring such a large number of people from outside _ Pakistan and Bangladesh _ and settle them in our country, from where will you provide jobs to them. First arrange jobs for your children; this was my basic question yesterday. Where will they find homes for those who they want in such large numbers from Pakistan and Bangladesh to be settled in our country? Where will houses, jobs, resources come from for them? There is so much poverty in our country, already people in our country do not have jobs, do not have homes, how will you settle them here,” he said.
Cautioning that the implementation of the CAA will open the floodgates for the immigrants from these countries to cross over to India in future, notwithstanding the present cut-off date of December 31, 2014, Shri Arvind Kejriwal said after Independence, there was a large-scale migration, many people went from India to Pakistan and Bangladesh and many people came here from there. Now this migration that is going to happen because of the CAA, it is going to be a much bigger migration than that from Pakistan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan. They say that under CAA, if their minorities want to come and live in India, they will be given permission and they will be given Indian citizenship. There are approximately 2.5 to 3 crore minorities living in these three countries _ Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan. There is a lot of poverty there, they do not have employment; coming to India and getting Indian citizenship is like a big dream for them. And if we open the doors of India, such a large number of people are going to come which we cannot even imagine. “Out of these 2.5 to 3 crore people, even if 1.5 crore people come, then where will they be settled, what will we do with them. This was my question, honourable Home Minister, which you did not answer. You are saying that those who came before 2014 will be resettled. I want to ask you, did they stop coming after 2014, are they not coming even after 2014? They are still coming; they are coming daily. So, till now these intruders and illegal migrants feared the law, they were scared that they will be sent back or put behind bars because they were ‘illegal’. With this act, these illegal migrants will be made legal, their fear will end. The message in these three countries is that the Indian government is making all their illegal refugees legal. Today, the BJP is saying that the act will be applicable only on people who entered India before 2014, but it will eventually be extended to 2019 and then 2024, because the intruders are entering India on a regular basis.”
The AAP National Convenor said, “You (the BJP) also talked about the Rohingya community. They entered India after you formed the government, after 2014. How did they enter India? Did they come in connivance with you or because of your failure? You have spread the Rohingya community all over the country. You are opening the doors for these intruders and migrants and making them legal, this will prove to be extremely dangerous for the nation. These intruders are going to enter India in such huge numbers that you cannot even imagine.”
Meanwhile, Shri Arvind Kejriwal shared a post on the ‘X’ platform in response to the protest by immigrants from Pakistan outside his house today: “Pakistanis are allowed to protest outside my house with full police protection and respect and farmers of this country are not even allowed to come to Delhi? Tear gas shells, sticks, rods, and bullets on Indian farmers? And so much respect for Pakistanis?”
Shri Arvind Kejriwal enunciated in his press conference how the migrants who came to India before 2014 did not have any legal rights in India. “With this act, the BJP is now giving them citizenship. With that, they will also be given government jobs. Now intruders from Pakistan will take away our government jobs. They will get ration cards,” he said.
“Today in Delhi, only 72 lakh people have ration cards, which are already falling short. We keep requesting the central government to approve the request for increasing the ration cards since the number of poor people living in Delhi is much higher. They don’t approve the request for issuing the ration cards to Indian citizens, but they will give new ration cards to these migrants and intruders of Pakistan and Bangladesh. This is not right; you are taking away the rights of the Indian citizens and giving to these intruders,” said Shri Arvind Kejriwal.
“The government fund is made up of our money, it is the money of 140 crore people of India, it is our tax money. We, the people of India, have paid the taxes, not the people of Pakistan or Bangladesh. You (BJP) cannot spend that hard earned money on settling the people of Pakistan and Bangladesh in India. Indians will not tolerate this. I am saying this with utmost humility, please try to understand this,” he said.
The AAP Supremo also raised the issue of security concern after these immigrants settle here. “If the slums of these intruders from Pakistan are constructed right in front of your homes, would you accept it? Who are these people? Will your daughters be safe? Will you feel safe amongst these people you don’t know? Will our country be safe? What if Pakistan sends people intentionally? There will be constant law and order problems in India.”
Addressing the Union Home Minister, Shri Arvind Kejriwal said, “This is what I’m concerned about. Please don’t take it otherwise.”
The AAP National Convenor also gave the examples of other nations that have suffered due to such policies. He stated, “Why don’t we learn from what happened in other countries? Look at the condition of Canada, it used to be a developed nation that opened its doors for people, and now people from all over the world have settled there. Now they are stopping this immigration. It is the same in the UK, where they are taking strict measures to reduce net immigration. India, on the other hand, is opening the doors for these poor migrants. Who will take care of the poor people in India then?”
“If you (BJP) really want to bring people from other countries to India, then think of the 11 lakh capitalists and industrialists who have left India in the last 10 years. These capitalists and industrialists left India due to the BJP led central government’s wrong policies and injustice. These people are Indians and have left their own country. These are rich people who have money, they will come and invest in the nation, open factories, and businesses, and give jobs to millions of (our) children. We will all support you in this. But if you bring people from Pakistan and Bangladesh to India, that is not acceptable to the citizens of India,” concluded CM Shri Arvind Kejriwal.
