Mumbai: Thousands of citizens Sunday congregated in Mumbai’s suburban Jogeshwari to oppose the new citizenship law, the proposed NRC and NPR.
They also condemned last Sunday’s violence on the JNU campus in Delhi, where masked men ran riot and attacked students. Leftist organisations had claimed RSS-affiliated ABVP’s role in the attack, a charge denied by the students’ body.
Former Tata Institute of Social Science (TISS) general secretary Fahad Ahmed said that they assembled under the aegis of ‘Hum Bharat Ke Log’ in Millat Nagar area.
“Prime Minister Narendra Modi should call 56 students from across the country to debate on the CAA, NRC and NPR,” Ahmed said in an apparent jibe at Modi’s “56 inch chest” remark, which the latter had made ahead of the 2014 Lok Sabha polls.
“Why the PM is not talking to us? Why is he not communicating? Even the Britishers used to talk to Indians whom they ruled, but our PM is not talking to poor people,” he alleged.
Hindi film actor Sushant Singh Rajput also spoke on the occasion. “We are people of this country and such acts (CAA) are tarnishing the image of our country,” he said.
At the gathering, people waved banners with slogans like “I Am From Gujarat, My Documents Burned in 2002.”
“No CAA, Boycott NRC, Stop Dividing India, Don’t Divide us,” “Save Constitution,” written on them. A large number of police personnel were present at the venue.
The Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), which was notified January 10, grants Indian citizenship to non-Muslim minorities migrated to India from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh till December 31, 2014, following persecution over their faith.
Massive protests were witnessed against the CAA, mainly by the student community, since its passage by Parliament in December last year.
Opposition parties have been dubbing the CAA an “anti-Muslim” legislation, a charge being debunked by the government.
The Congress and other parties like the TMC have also opposed the proposed National Register of Citizens (NRC) and the National Population Register (NPR).
Union Home Minister Amit Shah has said that the government won’t rest until persecuted refugees are granted Indian citizenship.
PTI