Govt ready to talk to Shaheen Bagh protesters: Law Minister Prasad

New Delhi: The government is ready to talk to the protesters at Shaheen Bagh to clear their doubts over the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) in a “structured form”, Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said on Saturday.

In a tweet, he said the Narendra Modi govt is ready to communicate with the protesters and clear all the doubts that they have against the citizenship law.

“Government is ready to talk to protestors of Shaheen Bagh but then it should be in a structured form and the Narendra Modi govt is ready to communicate with them and clear all their doubts they have against CAA,” Prasad said in a tweet.

The minister also shared a link of a TV debate in which he had participated. In the debate, a person associated with the protest asked the minister why the government was not trying to communicate with the protesters at Shaheen Bagh.

Prasad said it was a “good thing” that people were protesting for days but some people were heard saying on television that there would not be dialogue until the CAA was rolled back.

“If you want a government representative to talk, then there should be a structured request from Shaheen Bagh which says all the people there want to talk on the subject,” he said.

Shaheen Bagh in the national capital has become the epicentre of protests against the CAA,  termed as discriminatory on the basis of religion as it seeks to grant  persecuted Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs, Jains, Parsis, and Christians in Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan who have entered India  before December 31, 2014 citizenship.

Prasad’s remarks came a day after its smaller allies of the National Democratic Alliance such as the Shiromoni Akali Dal, Janata Dal-U and Lok Janshakti Party said to have voiced their displeasure over the new law piloted by the Bharatiya Janata Party. (UNI)