Sharma began his arguments against the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill (CAB) by saying, “The Bill is an assault on the very foundational values of the Indian Constitution. It is an assault on the republic of India. It hurts the soul of India.”
But Sharma made the Home Minister feel hot under the collar when he demolished Shah’s pet claim that the Congress was responsible for the partition of India along religious lines as per the two-nation theory. Sharma said, “Congress was not responsible for the two-nation theory. In 1937, it was the Hindu Mahasabha that proposed it under VD Savarkar. In 1938, when the Muslim League was formed, the Partition of India resolution was adopted by Fazlul Huq.”
But the real gut punch came when he said Savarkar approved of Jinnah. Sharma said, “In 1943, it was Savarkar who formally announced, ‘I have no problems with Mr. Jinnah’s proposal for a two-nation theory’.”
But Sharma’s fact-checking did not stop here. He went on to point out and correct another false narrative peddled by Shah. “It was under the Congress that people from newly independent areas like Goa, Daman and Diu and Pondicherry were issued citizenship. People from Kenya and Uganda, many of whom are living and running businesses in Gujarat, were granted citizenship by the Congress government. Therefore, you are attempting to rewrite history when you say refugees suffered for over 70 years and no government did anything for them.”
Sharma also took the opportunity to draw attention to upcoming detention camps across India asking, “Land has already been set aside for construction of detention camps. After NRC will India also have detention camps like concentration camps of Europe?”
Sharma concluded by giving the BJP chief a polite but sound verbal reprimand saying, “If Sardar Patel were alive, he would be disappointed in your government. Gandhiji would be saddened as to what you did in the year of his 150th birth anniversary. Don’t just use Gandhi’s glasses for advertising your schemes, use them to see the country as per his vision.”