I appeal for calm, don't listen to rumours: PM Modi on anti-CAA protest

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday appealed for calm and asked people not to listen to rumours with respect to the Citizenship Amendment Act. 

"Don't resort to violence. People listened to rumours and rumour-mongering fueled violence," the prime minister said during his address in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh. 

The prime minister said that issues like Article 370 and Ram temple in Ayodhya have been "resolved peacefully" in the country. 

"The way to give citizenship to refugees from Pakistan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan has been cleared. 130 crore Indians have found a solution to such challenges with confidence," he stated. 

PM Modi asked people to introspect if damaging public property in the name protest was right.

"People who damaged public property and were involved in violence in the name of protest in UP, should introspect if what they did was right," he said.

"A secure atmosphere is our right but it's also the duty of the citizens to respect the work of police," he said. 

Earlier in the day, the prime minister unveiled a statue of former prime minister late Atal Bihari Vajpayee at Lucknow's Lok Bhawan. 

He also paid his tribute to the former PM on the occasion of his 95th birth anniversary. 

"Atal ji used to say that life has to be seen in totality, not in pieces. The same is true for the government, the same is true for good governance. Good governance is also not possible until we think of the problems in totality," PM Modi said in Lucknow. 

Watch: PM Modi condemns violence, urges anti-CAA protesters to introspect

On Sunday, the prime minister addressed a rally at Delhi's Ramlila Maidan and stated that CAA will benefit the marginalised and will not affect the citizens of the country. 

While talking about the National Register of Citizens (NRC), the Prime Minister attacked the opposition and its ''friends'', saying that ''Urban Naxals are spreading rumours that all Muslims will be sent to detention centres''. 

Commanding the crowd to respect their education, Modi said ''Read what is Citizenship Amendment Act and NRC. You are educated''.

Protests have gripped the country over the newly introduced citizenship law which seeks to grant citizenship to non-Muslim migrants from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan. 

(With inputs from ANI)