A day after Amit Shah issued a challenge to several politicians including Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for a public debate on the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, BSP supremo Mayawati on Wednesday tweeted that the party accepts the Union home minister’s challenge.
Mayawati said her party accepts the challenge and is ready to debate “at any forum and at any place.”
“The central government, disturbed by protests against the controversial CAA/NRC/NPR, by the entire nation, especially by the youth and women, has issued a challenge at a Lucknow rally to the Opposition to debate on the issue. The BSP accepts the challenge and is ready to debate at any forum and at any place,” Mayawati tweeted in Hindi.
आति-विवादित CAA/NRC/NPR के खिलाफ पूरे देश में खासकर युवा व महिलाओं के संगठित होकर संघर्ष व आन्दोलित हो जाने से परेशान केन्द्र सरकार द्वारा लखनऊ की रैली में विपक्ष को इस मुद्दे पर बहस करने की चुनौती को BSP किसी भी मंच पर व कहीं भी स्वीकार करने को तैयार है।
— Mayawati (@Mayawati) January 22, 2020
At a pro-CAA rally held in Lucknow on Tuesday, Shah had thrown a challenge to politicians including Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, SP president Akhilesh Yadav and Mayawati.
At the rally, Shah also said that he doesn’t care about the protests against the contentious law and will pay no heed to them.
Reacting to the challenge, AIMIM chief earlier in the day said he wants Shah to debate him on the amended citizenship law.
Owaisi said, 'I am here..debate with me.. why (debate) with these people.. 'Daadi wale se karo na' (Debate with a bearded man). We will talk and debate on CAA, NPR and NRC.'
Senior Congress leader and former Union finance minister P. Chidambaram took a dig at Shah’s statement, saying that isn’t this what academics, writers, students, among others have been doing since December 12.
HM has dared the Opposition to debate CAA. Is that not what the Opposition, jurists, academics, writers, artists, students and youth have been doing since Dec 12?
— P. Chidambaram (@PChidambaram_IN) January 21, 2020
Various protesters have asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Shah to talk to them and explain the amended citizenship law.
Women of Delhi’s Shaheen Bagh, who have been protesting for over a month, have invited Modi to tea. Protesters in Lucknow, also led by a group of women, have asked Shah to “clear their doubts.”
In a series of tweets, Chidambaram further said he had “suggested” Modi to select five critics and hold a televised Q&A session with them and “let the people draw their own conclusions.”
I had suggested that the PM should select five of the most articulate critics and hold a Q&A session with them. Why doesn't the PM/Government accept the suggestion?
— P. Chidambaram (@PChidambaram_IN) January 21, 2020
Let five critics of CAA-NPR debate the PM. Let the event be televised live. And let the people draw their own conclusions.
— P. Chidambaram (@PChidambaram_IN) January 21, 2020
The CAA seeks to grant citizenship to migrants belonging to Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Christian, Jain and Parsi communities who have come to the country from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan on or before December 31, 2014. Muslims don’t figure in the list.
With inputs from PTI
