Spiritual guru Sri Sri Ravi Shankar | Photo Credit: Times Now

New Delhi: Spiritual guru Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, on Thursday, hailed the contentious Citizenship (Amendment) Act while saying Muslims who have been persecuted in Pakistan should also be included in the amended law.

Speaking on the second day of the Times Now Summit 2020, the spiritual leader said: "CAA is necessary. In Pakistan, the Ahmadiyya population, there is a sect of a Muslim population that is being persecuted, we can think about them also. If they are persecuted in their countries, there is nothing wrong in giving shelter to them here."

Earlier, he had urged the Centre to consider giving Indian citizenship to Tamils from Sri Lanka, who have been "living in the country as refugees" for the last 35 years.

Reiterating his position, Sri Sri said: "I have said that perhaps Sri Lankans should also be included in CAA. During then-president APJ Abdul Kalam's time, we had done a campaign and collected over one crore signatures of Sri Lankans who have been living in India for the last 35 years; they should be given citizenship rights."

Bridge the communication gap: Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

The spiritual guru stressed the significance of dialogue, asserting that the "communication gap" is the main cause of acrimony across society.

"We keep forgetting that this type of unrest kept happening throughout our history. There was such acrimony when there was youth movement across the country, there was such acrimony when there was a movement over languages and the imposition of Hindi in the south of India. So, such unrests keep coming up time and again but what is needed is people with right mindfulness, ideas, and attitude. We have to plunge into action, bridge the communication gap. It is basically the communication gap," he said.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar on Ayodhya issue

Further speaking on the Ayodhya dispute issue, the spiritual guru said that the matter has been put to rest. Sri Sri was one of the members of the mediation panel that was constituted to resolve the decades-old Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid land dispute through dialogue.

“It (Ayodhya issue) came to a very good end and people were very happy. I hope the issue has been put to rest. I don't think the conflict will rise up again. A few people will object for everything and we cannot silence them all,” he said.

In a unanimous verdict, the Supreme Court in November last year paved the way for the construction of a Ram Temple at the disputed site at Ayodhya and directed the Centre to allot an alternative 5-acre plot to the Muslim side for building a new mosque in the holy town in Uttar Pradesh.

Sri Sri on Shaheen Bagh protest and growing dissent

Commenting on the ongoing protest against CAA and NRC in Delhi’s Shaheen Bagh, he said that the government should sit with them and communicate to resolve the matter.

“Intellectuals should make effort to bridge the gap, reestablish communication and assure them that every Indian is safe and will be respected no matter which religion they belong to,” he added.

The spiritual guru further said that people have a trust issue with the government which is coming in the way of proper communication.

"There is a trust issue (with the government) because of which proper communication is not happening. If people have accepted to consider us as their enemy, then nothing will help. Media, NGO, spiritual leaders can help in establishing this communication and building trust," he said.

On the second day of the event with the theme - 'Unity in Diversity, the New Beginning', Home Minister Amit Shah will also be a part of the summit and address the audience. Topics such as the vision of new India, Delhi election results, India’s data security challenges, environmental and climate challenges, women empowerment, CAA and NRC, state's view on national policy, and the economy will be discussed at the event.

Day 1 saw PM Modi and other Union ministers addressing the two-day event

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) Bipin Rawat, Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, Women and Child Development Minister Smriti Irani, AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi spoke on day one of the Times Now Summit 2020 which is taking place in New Delhi on February 12-13.

The first day of the mega event with the theme — India Action Plan 2020 — witnessed a keynote address by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The two-day event has been built with a purpose to accelerate the ‘New India’ vision by taking a holistic approach in defining a constructive action plan for India.

Catch the event LIVE here: