Prime Minister Narendra Modi (file photo)

TUMAKURU: PM Narendra Modi on Thursday lashed out at Congress and its allies for opposing the new citizenship law, saying they should explain why processions were being taken out against “Dalits and other religious minorities” seeking sanctuary in India while being “silent on Pakistan”, from where these refugees had fled “to save themselves and their daughters”.

Addressing students at the Sri Siddaganga Mutt in Tumakuru, 70km from Bengaluru, Modi said, “Those who have come to India are refugees from Pakistan since they were denied religious freedom there. Many Dalits and members of other minority communities there have been under constant attack. While we are trying to grant them citizenship, Congress has launched protests (against the move).”

The PM, who is on a two-day visit to Karnataka, said if Congress and its allies wanted to protest, their target should have been Pakistan. “Today, every Indian has a question: why are they (Congress and its allies) silent on Pakistan, which has committed atrocities on these people (refugees)?”

Modi accused Congress of keeping quiet for 70 years even as Pakistan “exploited members of the Dalit and other minority communities”.

“What prevented the party from raising the issue at an international level? If you (Congress) must raise slogans, then highlight the way minorities are tortured in Pakistan. If you must stage a procession, then support exploited Hindu minorities who have come to India from Pakistan,’’ Modi said in defence of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act.

“We can’t leave minorities from Pakistan to their fate. We have a responsibility to protect them. But Congress and its allies don’t speak against Pakistan; instead, they stage rallies against refugees and Parliament,’’ he added.

Congress immediately hit back at Modi, saying its anti-CAA agitation was against his “divisive policies and not against Parliament”.

“Modiji, this agitation is not against Parliament but against your divisive work. We will not let you break the country. So far as Pakistan is concerned, India taught them a lesson in 1948, 1965, 1971 and in Kargil, and inflicted so many wounds that they are not being able to cope with them. If you want to reply to Pakistan, stop playing games of biryani and mangoes,” the party said.

Former Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah criticised the PM for making a political speech in the presence of children “on the holy soil of the Siddaganga mutt”, which he described as “an apolitical, secular place”.

