‘Hiding behind hate’: Rahul Gandhi attacks PM, Amit Shah over CAA protests

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi tweeted his accusation against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union home minister Amit Shah on Sunday as the PM spoke against the grand old party's stance over the citizenship act during a rally in Delhi.

Rahul Gandhi, who has been out of India for the past few days, said Prime Minister Modi and Amit Shah have destroyed the future of India's youth.

The former Congress president added that Modi and Shah are "hiding behind hate" to escape the youth's anger over rising unemployment and the state of the country's economy.

"Dear Youth of India, Modi & Shah have destroyed your future. They can't face your anger over the lack of jobs and damage they've done to the economy. That's why they are dividing our beloved India and hiding behind hate," Gandhi said on Twitter.

"We can only defeat them by responding with love towards every Indian," he tweeted.

The Congress leader's tweet came as the Prime Minister said opposition parties were spreading rumours and misleading and inciting people over the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) during his massive rally in Delhi's Ramlila Maidan.

Modi asserted that his government has never discriminated on the basis of religion while implementing its schemes.

"Today those people who are misleading Muslims in the name of papers and certificates, they should remember that we did not put restrictions in terms of paper while choosing beneficiaries of schemes for the betterment of the poor," he continued.

He also asked the youth to educate themselves about the legislation.

"Congress, its friends and some urban Naxals are spreading rumours that all Muslims will be sent to detention centres... Respect your education, read what is the Citizenship Amendment Act and NRC. You are educated," he said.

The Congress party, which has upped its ante against the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government over the citizenship act, will hold a five-hour Satyagraha on Monday at Mahatma Gandhi's Samadhi at Rajghat to register its protest.

Rahul Gandhi along with Congress president Sonia Gandhi, party leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and other leaders will take part in the Satyagraha, which will be held between 3pm and to 8pm.

More than a dozen people have been killed during the violent protests against the new legislation across the country. Uttar Pradesh has seen the violence spiralling out of control in several districts, where 17 protesters have been killed so far.

The CAA seeks to fast-track the grant of Indian citizenship to Hindus, Sikhs, Christians, Buddhists, Jains and Parsi in the Muslim-majority countries of Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan.