Union Minister Piyush Goyal on Friday accused the Opposition parties of instigating youngsters on the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) and triggering violence by spreading “wrong perception” about the new law.
He alleged that the Congress has become “directionless” and in its bid to remain relevant, it was trying to spread rumours and spark violence. The Railway Minister was speaking at IMC Centre at Churchgate in south Mumbai while launching BJP's 10-day-long campaign aimed at mobilising support for the CAA.
“Ever since the Citizen Amendment Act was passed in the Parliament, they (opposition) started spreading wrong perception (about it) in the country. They tried to instigate youngsters and spread violence at different places,” Goyal said.
“I believe the Congress has become a directionless party. I would like to appeal to the Congress that it should not spread rumours and violence. It should give priority to the interest of the country and people, and keep humanity at top,” he said.
Goyal alleged that in order to protect its own political interests, the Congress was misleading a specific class of people and trying to spread fear and instability in the country over the CAA.
“Congress has slowly lost its supremacy in every state and it is forming Governments in many states as junior partners,” he said, adding that in Maharashtra the party won just 44 seats despite contesting on 140-150 seats. Without naming BJP's former ally Shiv Sena, Goyal took a dig at it for its different stands in the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha during the passage of the Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB).