Tejasvi Surya said new India can't be built without healing wounds of the past

BJP MP Tejasvi Surya said on Wednesday the "majority community" has to remain vigilant or "Mughal rule" will return to the country, as he criticised the protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act or CAA at Delhi's Shaheen Bagh.

He was participating in a debate on Motion of Thanks on the President's address in Lok Sabha. Referring to the protest at Shaheen Bagh against the CAA, he said, "Unless majority community remains vigilant, the days of Mughal Raj may not be far away."

His remarks evoked sharp reaction from the opposition members. Mr Surya praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi for resolving several critical issues that had been pending for several decades.

The CAA, he said, was aimed at resolving the issues that was left over from the Partition. "The new India cannot be built without healing the wounds of the past."

He said the CAA was about giving citizenship to persecuted minorities in Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan and not for taking away anyone's citizenship.

Under the leadership of PM Modi, Mr Surya said, several issues of the past have seen closure. These include abrogation of Article 370, construction of Ram temple, solving Bodo problems and abolition of "triple talaq".

K Sudhakaran of the Congress said it was a time when the economy was going through its worst phase and unemployment was high.