Tag: CAA

CAA protest plan in place.

Source – telegraphindia.com

Aprotest meeting against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA), National Register of Citizens (NRC) and National Population Register (NPR) drew around 1,000 people to Zilla School ground here on Monday where a decision was taken to launch a series of peaceful protests in the capital next month.

“We will organise peaceful protests beginning from January 2 in Ranchi next month. The first programme will be held near the Gandhi statue in Morabadi on January 2. We will observe it as Sankalp Divas,” activist Balram said on behalf of Sajha Manch, a united forum of social and political activists.

Another activist, Ashok Verma, said they would read aloud the Preamble to the Constitution and sit on a dharna there.

“We will organise similar programmes on January 8, 16, 23, 26 and 30,” said Ibrar Ahmad, the chief of the local Anjuman Islamia.

On the Republic Day, the protest meeting will be held at the gram sabha level where people will read out the Preamble and take a pledge to protect its spirit.

The Constitution gives guarantee of equality to all citizens, but the government’s move violates it, the activists said.

“There are many tribals and poor people in the state who can’t submit documents as proof of their being citizens of this country. The Mundas of Khunti don’t even have ownership documents as their land is a community property,” Balram said, explaining why they were opposing the NRC and NPR.

Nadim Khan, a Left leader who conducted the meeting, said they had initially planned a Samvidhan Bachao March (Save the Constitution rally), but the district administration didn’t give permission.

Congress leader Subodh Kant Sahay was also present at the the meeting that demanded the repeal of the CAA and withdrawal of the NRC and NPR proposals.

The participants also expressed solidarity with the students of 33 universities who are protesting against the CAA and the NCR and condemned Uttar Pradesh police’s high-handed attitude against the protesters.

Tejashwi Yadav says IDs lost in floods each year, calls for Bihar bandh over CAA.

Source – hindustantimes.com

Bare-chested supporters of the Rashtriya Janata Dal blocked highways using buffaloes, sat on railway tracks and shouted slogans on Saturday to protest against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act and proposed National Register of Citizens (NRC) in at least two places in Bihar.

Tejashwi Yadav of the RJD, which has given the call for a Bihar Bandh against the citizenship act, has appealed to the people of the state to participate in the shutdown.

“In protest against CAA and NRC, the RJD will be leading a Bihar bandh on December 21. On its eve, the party carried a torch rally in all districts to give a call for a peaceful protest,” the former deputy chief minister had tweeted on Friday. 

The RJD’s workers and supporters protested bare chest as they shouted against Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar and the central government in Darbhanga. They blocked the highway by burning tyres and also protested at the railway line and disrupted the movement of trains.

In Vaishali, the RJD’s workers blocked the highway with the help of buffaloes.

As Tejashwi Yadav opposed the proposed NRC, he said people would not be able to prove their identity if it is implemented, as their identity documents often get washed away in the floods in the state.

“In Bihar, people’s documents flow away with floodwaters. How can they prove their identity?” Yadav had asked.

Nitish Kumar of the Janata Dal (United), an ally of the Bharatiya Janata Party and member of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance, had signalled his opposition to an NRC exercise.

He is the first chief minister of an NDA-ruled state to shut its doors on the citizens’ register that would be crucial to the BJP-led national coalition delivering on its promise to expel infiltrators.

However, his party had voted in favour of the controversial changes in the citizenship act that allows the government to give citizenship to minorities from three Muslim countries Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Protests have intensified in various parts of the country after CAA was enacted on December 12.

Opposition parties and civil society say the law is unconstitutional because it links faith to citizenship and discriminatory because it omits Islam.

Won’t implement CAA, NRC in Jharkhand: Hemant Soren.

Source – thehindu.com

A day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi lashed out at the Opposition here over the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019, Hemant Soren, the chief ministerial face of the grand alliance in Jharkhand, said if voted to power his government would review both the CAA and National Register of Citizens and not implement them if they had potential to trigger violence in the State.

“Both the CAA and NRC sound similar. They will be evaluated afresh. If we feel Jharkhand could plunge into violence, both CAA and NRC will not be put into practice,” Mr. Soren told The Hindu here on Monday.

When his attention was drawn to the BJP’s concern over illegal immigration of Bangladeshis into Jharkhand through West Bengal and the porous international border, the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) executive president said, “The BJP came to power in many northeastern States highlighting the issue of infiltration of Bangladeshis. Now, the northeastern States are burning. They have backstabbed people there by bringing in CAA”

“This BJP-led government does not have any work to do. It has been raising divisive issues strategically and from time to time. The issues which can flare up people’s emotions are carefully chosen. Those are intended at dividing people on caste and religion lines leading to violence,” alleged Mr. Soren.

He observed, “They will not talk on unemployment, crumbling economy, losses being incurred by major public sector units, poverty and violence against women. The focus of the present government is only on dividing society as Hindu-Muslim and tribal and non-tribals.”

Alleging that that BJP always tries to reap political dividends through non-issues, Mr. Soren said, “In 2014, they came to power giving the wrong impression on the economy and law and order. When they miserably failed to find a solution to the issues they had highlighted, they came up with the revenge attack for the Pulwama terror strike. They stirred up people on India-Pakistan sentiments just before the 2019 elections.”

“Now, the BJP is preparing for the 2024 elections with these legal instruments. They have constructed a huge statue of Sardar Valabhbhai Patel although they do not have anything to do with the ideology of this great leader. They are now talking about construction of a grand Ram Temple at Ayodhya. They know how to hoodwink people without delivering on genuine problems,” he charged.

Addressing an election rally at Dumka, where the JMM chief is contesting, Mr. Modi on Sunday had said violence over CAA was being stoked by the Congress and its allies and it was wrong as the Bill was cleared by Parliament.

The JMM, Congress and Rashtriya Janata Dal have stitched up a pre-poll alliance in Jharkhand where polling will come to end on December 20 and results will be declared on December 23.