Hyderabad, Jan 16 (PTI) Seeking to allay fears over the CAA, BJP leader Mahesh Sharma on Thursday said it was meant to grant citizenship to Hindus facing religious persecution in three neighboring Islamic countries and termed those opposing the legislation as "enemies" of the nation.

Addressing a press conference at BJP state office here, Sharma said the controversial Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) was meant to provide citizenship to hindu minorities of three Islamic countries, who faced religious persecution and living in India as illegal migrants.

"Those who are opposing the CAA are enemies of this country... the CAA is not to take citizenship of Indians irrespective of religion.

All 130 crore people of the country are Indians and there is no threat to citizenship of any Indian," the Lok Sabha MP said.

Referring to alleged confusion created among people by Congress and other opposition parties, the former union minister said they should play a constructive role rather than destructive.

He claimed that those protesting against the CAA were not well-wishers of the country and only wanted to create hurdles in the way of development of the country.

Slamming Asaduddin Owaisi, he said the AIMIM president was trying to prove himself as messiah of muslims and trying to "mislead" them.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)