Senior CPI(M) leader Brinda Karat has contested the advocacy of the Narendra Modi government on Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), citing the fate of the Rohingya and Ahmadiyya communities in neighbouring countries.

“Why are the Rohingya and Ahmadiyya Muslims, who are being persecuted in Myanmar and Pakistan, not covered under the new citizenship law if the Centre is so concerned about people facing atrocities in neighbouring countries,” she asked late Monday night while addressing a gathering at Raipur’s 'Shaheen Bagh'.

A section of people had been staging protests against the CAA and the proposed National Register of Citizens (NRC) and National Population Register (NPR) at Jaistambh Chowk in Raipur. Karat reached the venue late Monday night and met the protesters, many of whom were Muslim women.

“You (Centre) are saying that you have love and concern for the persecuted people in neighbouring countries…we agree that such people should be given shelter,” she said, adding that Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh are not India’s only neighbours; there were persecuted people in Nepal, Myanmar and Sri Lanka as well. The CPI(M) leader wondered why there was no mention of Tamils in CAA despite over 100,000 Tamil refugees living in India.

Karat also wanted to know why the NDA government didn'thave feelings for Rohingyas and Ahmadiyyas suffering in Myanmar and Pakistan (respectively). "Why were the two sects not included in the new law? Is it because they are not Hindus? You are not concerned about persecuted people. You are only projecting your narrow agenda,” she said.

Lashing out at the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the CPI(M) leader said that when the whole country welcomed the Constitution drafted under the leadership of B R Ambedkar in 1950, the RSS opposed it. She coined new phrase for RSS, the “'Rashtriya Sarvanash (destroyer) Sangh'”.