'Concerned citizens will judge leaders by what they say': Kapil Sibal slams Vijayvargiya

Senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal on Saturday attacked the BJP government at the Centre while accusing it of recognising the nationality of the people from their eating habits and identifying the protesters from the clothes they wear. He also said that Indian citizens will judge their political leaders from their statements.

'Kailash Vijayvargiya recognises...'

Taking to Twitter, Sibal wrote, "Science of Recognition: Modiji recognises: Protesters by the clothes they wear; Kailash Vijayvargiya recognises: Bangladeshi's by the Poha they eat." Sibal's comment came after BJP general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya said that he suspected that there were some 'Bangladeshi workers' among construction labourers working at his house as they had 'strange eating habits'.

The former Union Minister advised the ruling party to be cautious of what they say as the people will evaluate how educated the political leaders are. "Concerned citizen: Recognises our educated leaders by what they say!" he added.

At a conference in Indore, Kailash Vijayvargiya said, "There was some construction work going at my house so I noticed that some workers were eating only 'Poha' (flattened rice). After speaking to them I realised they could not speak Hindi. I was later told that they are Bengali and when I asked them from which districts they belong to, they could not answer me."

In another claim, Vijayvargiya mentioned that a Bangladeshi terrorist was keeping a tab on his movements for the last one and a half years. He expressed concern over outsiders entering India and creating fear in the minds of people. Furthermore, the BJP general secretary asserted that the Citizenship Amendment Act would provide asylum to “genuine” refugees and help identify “intruders”. 

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'This government will use NPR to nationally profile people'

Congress has been at the forefront of the attack against Vijayvargiya. Addressing a press conference, Congress leader Sushmita Dev slammed the BJP leader for linking food habits and the identification of an infiltrator. Thereafter, she cited this to justify Congress' apprehension about the Centre using the National Population Register for malafide purpose. 

Dev remarked, "If a senior leader like Vijayvargiya can declare anyone infiltrator because of his eating habits... If one can connect someone's nationality and connect it to national security... This is the reason why we are saying that this government will use NPR to nationally profile people."

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