Nobody can be denied citizenship on ground of religion, says Ram Vilas Paswan

No government can snatch away citizenship of any Indian, Union minister and BJP ally Ram Vilas Paswan said on Friday, as he sought to reassure people over a number of citizenship measures which have triggered protests in various parts of the country.

"Be it Dalits, tribals, backwards, minorities of upper castes, they are all original citizens of the country. Citizenship is their birthright. No government can snatch it away. No Indian citizen will be bothered unnecessarily," the Lok Janshakti Party leader said.

As far as National Register of Citizens is concerned, there has been no discussion on it but it has nothing to with any religion, he said, adding that nobody can be denied citizenship on the ground of religion.

Paswan said social justice and secularism are his party's mission, and he has fought for the rights of Dalits, tribals, backwards and minorities for his entire life. "Leave alone citizenship, no government can raise a question about their rights," he said.

In his tweets, Paswan said confusion is being spread across the country about the Citizenship (Amendment) Act as part of a conspiracy.

Muslims have no reason to worry about the law as it has nothing to do with Indian citizens, he said.

Muslims have constituted a bulk of protestors agitating against the CAA.

He noted that the NRC was conceptualised in 2003 and the UPA government which was in power during 2004-14 never repealed it and the then home minister P Chidambaram had in fact said that the NRC will be a subset of the NPR (National Population Register).