Union Home Minister Amit Shah distributed citizenship certificates to 188 refugees under the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) in Gujarat's Ahmedabad on Sunday.

In his address, Amit Shah highlighted that the CAA aims not just to grant citizenship but to provide justice and rights to millions of refugees. He criticized previous governments for failing to deliver these rights due to their appeasement policies, which, he claimed, left refugees from 1947 to 2014 deprived of justice.

Amit Shah, "These people had to endure abuse not only in neighbouring countries but also here. These millions of people yearned for justice for three generations but due to the appeasement policy of the opposition, they did not get justice. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has provided justice to these lakhs and crores of people."

He also noted that at the time of India's independence, the country was divided along religious lines, leading to significant suffering for Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs, Jains, and Christians in Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh. Shah pointed out that promises were made to grant citizenship to these communities, but previous governments reneged on these commitments, prioritizing vote bank politics over justice.

Shah emphasized that the law serves the people, not the other way around. He reiterated that the Modi government fulfilled its 2014 promise by enacting the CAA in 2019, a measure intended to grant citizenship rather than revoke it. He criticized misinformation suggesting the CAA would strip Muslims of their citizenship, clarifying that the law has no such provision.

He assured that the CAA includes no criminal prosecution and provides amnesty, acknowledging that delays in citizenship were due to governmental shortcomings, not the refugees' actions.