Only those who agree to say ‘Bharat Mata ki Jai’ can stay in India: Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan

December 29: Union Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said that only those who say “Bharat Mata Ki Jai” will stay in India. Addressing the 54th state conference of the Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), the student wing of the RSS, Pradhan on Saturday said, “Are we going to make our country a ‘Dharam Shala’ now where anyone can roam freely?”

He lashed out at those opposing the National Register of Citizens (NRC) and Citizenship (Amendment) Bill (CAA), asking whether they wanted the country to become a “Dharam Shala” (an open house). “Whether the sacrifice given by Bhagat Singh and Subhas Chandra Bose will go waste? People have fought for freedom not because we have to count after 70 years who all are citizens. Whether we will make this country a Dharamshala?” asked Pradhan. Pradhan said, adding that most countries in the world had a provision for registering their citizens.