Contribution of Sikh Gurus can’t be repaid for thousands of years: Amit Shah

New Delhi, Oct 13: Union Home Minister Amit Shah attended the felicitation programme held by the Delhi Sikh Gurudwara Management Committee on Friday. Lauding the Sikh community at the event, the minister said the contribution of Sikh Gurus to the country cannot be repaid for years.

Addressing the gathering at the event Amit Shah said, “Be it India’s freedom struggle, fight against the Mughals or fight against Britishers, partition or sacrificing for the country, the Sikh community has always been one number one.”

He said the whole world today is following the teachings given by Guru Nanak Dev at a time when all religions were fighting for their respective sects. He praised the Sikh community for moving forward taking both religion and Karma equally.

“Under CAA, PM Modi gave citizenship to those Sikh brothers who wanted to come here from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, or Pakistan. This Panth has done so much for the country, society, and humanity. The contribution of Sikh Gurus for this country cannot be paid back for thousands of years,” Shah said.

Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), initially made its debut in the Lok Sabha in 2016, seeking to amend the Citizenship Act of 1955. After its introduction, it was referred to a Joint Parliamentary Committee and their report was finally submitted on January 7, 2019.

The Lok Sabha passed the Citizenship Amendment Bill on January 8, 2019, but it lapsed with the dissolution of the 16th Lok Sabha. The Bill was reintroduced to the 17th Lok Sabha on December 9, 2019, by the Minister of Home Affairs, Amit Shah, and was subsequently passed on December 10, 2019. The Rajya Sabha followed suit and passed the bill on December 11, 2019.

The purpose of the CAA was to grant Indian citizenship to illegal immigrants who entered India on or before December 31, 2014. The Act was specifically designed for migrants of six different religions – Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis, and Christians from three countries – Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and Pakistan.

According to the Act, an individual is eligible if they have resided in India during the last 12 months and for 11 of the previous 14 years. The Act relaxed the residency requirement from 11 years to five years for the specified class of illegal migrants. The Delhi Sikh Gurudwara Management Committee also felicitated the Home Minister at the event.

Earlier on October 11, Amit Shah unveiled the statue of Mahant Shri Chandnath Yogi at the Shri Baba Mastnath Math in Rohtak.

Praising PM Modi’s governance, Shah said, “For many years we waited for construction of Ram Mandir in Ayodhya…we kept fighting and in 2019 the country made PM Modi Prime Minister again and one day without letting any bloodshed happen, he did the ‘Bhoomi Poojan’ of Ram Mandir…”

Earlier on Tuesday, Amit Shah launched the Bharatiya Janata Party’s election campaign in Telangana where he lauded the work done under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s reign in the last nine years saying “Modi hai to mumkin hai.”