Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella stirred up a hornet’s nest with his statement that “CAA is just bad for India”  as it has not gone down well with the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and party MP Meenakshi Lekhi trained guns at the corporate honcho on Tuesday.

Lekhi took to Twitter and called it a “perfect example” of “How literate need to be educated.” She tweeted: “Precise reason for CAA to grant opportunities to persecuted minorities from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan. How about granting these opportunities to Syrian Muslims instead of Yezidis in USA?”

How literate need to be educated ! Perfect example. Precise reason for CAA is to grant opportunities to persecuted minorities from Bangladesh, Pakistan & Afghanistan.
How about granting these opportunities to Syrian Muslims instead of Yezidis in USA ? pic.twitter.com/eTm0EQ1O25

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— Meenakashi Lekhi (@M_Lekhi) January 14, 2020

This outburst came after on Monday, the Microsoft CEO spoke out against the contentious Citizenship Amendment Act and was quoted as saying: “I think what is happening is sad…It’s just bad…I would love to see a Bangladeshi immigrant who comes to India and creates the next unicorn in India or become the next CEO of Infosys.”

Though Microsoft promptly tried to make ammends and issued a fresh statement by Nadella, and said “Every country will and should define its borders, protect national security and set immigration policy accordingly. And in democracies, that is something that the people and their governments will debate and define within those bounds,” said the India-born CEO.

“I’m shaped by my Indian heritage, growing up in a multicultural India and my immigrant experience in the United States. My hope is for an India where an immigrant can aspire to find a prosperous start-up or lead a multinational corporation benefitting Indian society and the economy at large.” But the damage was done.

Lekhi’s analogy of providing “opportunities” to Syrian Muslims instead of Yezidis in the US was intended to highlight the victims have been the religious minority facing persecution, who are being given priority through the CAA.

Earlier, actress Deepika Padukone too was at the receiving end of many people including the ruling party BJP at centre and some other quarters over her visit to the JNU campus in Delhi to express solidarity with students who were recently attacked by armed assailants.

The Citizenship (Amendment) Act seeks to provide citizenship to Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi and Christian communities who have faced religious persecution in Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan and have arrived in India on or before December 31, 2014.

Anti-CAA protests have been witnessed across the country over the contentious law. Violent protests had been reported earlier from across the nation as locals and students demonstrating against the Act clashed with the police.

Campuses too in India, be it the JNU or Jamia Milia Islamia, have erupted in anger over the amended law with students from at least 15 universities taking on to the streets.

States of West Bengal, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Delhi, Punjab, Chhattisgarh have announced that they will not implement either the National Register of Citizens (NRC) or the Citizenship Amendment Act.

Meanwhile, the Union Cabinet has approved Rs 8,500 crore for updating the National Population Register (NPR), which is said to be the first step in implementing the National Register of Citizens (NRC).

West Bengal and Kerala are the only two states which have stopped the NPR procedures since they believe it is the first step for the contentious NRC.