If Hindus will not come to India where else they will go, Italy?: MoS Home G Kishan Reddy

Allaying fears of the Muslim community, Reddy said that there is nothing against them in the Citizenship (Amendment) Act.

Varanasi: Union Minister G Kishan Reddy has said that the Hindus facing religious persecution in Pakistan and Bangladesh will naturally "come to India" and not go to "Italy". "Why are you protesting? Against whom you are protesting? If Hindus from Pakistan and Bangladesh will not come to India then where else they will go, Italy?" Reddy said in Varanasi on Wednesday. "Sikhs will not go to Italy," he said.

"It`s our responsibility to give shelter to them and to give them citizenship," he added.

Allaying fears of the Muslim community with respect to the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA),  Reddy assured the community that there is nothing against them in the Citizenship (Amendment) Act. "There is nothing against Indian Muslim or other communities in the Act. The Act is not against any religion or citizen," he said.

While addressing a press-conference, Reddy said, "You have full right to protest under democracy but I would like to ask why are you protesting? Against whom the Act is?"

"Even if you are doing mindless protest you have the right to do so but you don`t have the right to destroy public property and set buses and other public property on fire. You don`t have the right to pelt stone," the MoS Home said.

Since the enactment of CAA on December 12 last year, protests have erupted in various parts of the country including the national capital. The CAA grants citizenship to Hindus, Sikhs, Jains Parsis, Buddhists and Christians fleeing religious persecution from Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh and came to India on or before December 31, 2014.