Citizenship Act Protests: Congress, AAP fanned anti-CAA violence in Delhi, says Javadekar

New Delhi, Jan 01: Union minister Prakash Javadekar on Wednesday blamed the Congress and Aam Aadmi Party for fanning the violence during anti-CAA protests in Delhi last month.

"Violence on the CAA issue was spread by AAP and the Congress in Delhi. AAP MLA Amantullah Khan made a statement to instigate riots that spoiled Delhi's atmosphere," claimed Javadekar.

"In a peaceful city like Delhi, the atmosphere that was created by spreading misinformation on Citizenship Amendment Act, and the damage that was done to property, Congress and AAP are responsible for it," he added.

As many as 26 people have died in massive protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act and the National Register of Citizens in the country over the last two weeks.

In Delhi, thousands of people were detained and internet services were suspended for brief periods and hundreds of people, many of them students, were injured in clashes with the police.

The Citizenship Amendment Actprovides citizenship to refugees from six minority religious communities from Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Pakistan, provided they have lived in India for six years and entered the country by December 31, 2014. The Act has been widely criticised for excluding Muslims.