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Academicians, activists oppose Citizenship Amendment Bill
LUCKNOW: A large number of academicians and social and political activists staged a protest demonstration at Ambedkar statue in Hazratganj on Monday against introduction
LUCKNOW: A large number of academicians and social and political activists staged a protest demonstration at Ambedkar statue in Hazratganj on Monday against introduction of the Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB)-2019 by union home minister Amit Shah in the Lok Sabha.
The protest was held under the banner of Nagrikta Bachao Aandolan,
Abdul Hafiz Gandhi, assistant professor of law at Unity Degree College, said religion has never been the basis for citizenship in India. Therefore, the government’s bid to bring in CAB by totally excluding Muslims from its purview is trying to make citizenship religion-centric.
He said CAB and NRC are two sides of the same coin. Both should be opposed to save the ‘soul of our country’.
Social activist Ameeque Jamei said CAB is anti-Constitutional and should be totally declared ultra vires to the Constitution. He said people should come out openly opposing CAB.
Scheduled Caste rights defender Dr Pawan Rao Ambedkar said Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar never visualised such a situation where the government will work against the pluralistic values of the Constitution. He said people should come out openly to boycott CAB and NRC.
He further said that it was not only related to Muslims but it was a question of how we deal with our citizens. All citizens cannot be made to prove their citizenship. The burden of proving citizenship should not be on the people. “Rather the government should see who is an illegal migrant and deport him. But to ask the whole of India to stand in line with their documents to prove their citizenship is illogical.”
Human right activist Ovais Sultan Khan said NRC is a totally futile exercise as was proved in the case of Assam.
Khalid Chaudhary, human rights defender, said CAB is anti-Constititaional and against the spirit of secularism of the Constitution.
Activist Summaya Rana said she was totally against for the Bill.
Congress spokesperson Sadaf Zafar, academician prof Ramesh Dixit and women’s rights activists Tahira Hasan and Naheeda Aqueel were also present during the protest.
On Sunday, a meeting on CAB and NRC was held in Kaifi Azmi Academy, Lucknow where issues related to CAB and NRC were discussed.
Speaking at that meeting, Imam Eidgah, Lucknow, Maulana Khalid Rasheed Firangi Mahali said, “We must talk to all opposition parties to oppose the Bill. We don’t want opposition to abstain but oppose and vote against the Bill.”
Social activist Prof Ali Khan Mahmudabad said CAB is not only illegal but it’s immoral. “CAB is tantamount to the murder of the Constitution and assassination of the idea of India. It should be a cause of concern to Hindus too! One only needs to see the state of countries that were created on basis of religion,” he said.
Former Lucknow University vice chancellor prof Roop Rekha Verma said through this Bill everybody is under attack. “We will fight against this Bill till the end. This is not about Muslims only but our constitutional values are in danger,” she said.
Former Lucknow University professor Ramesh Dixit said “secularism is the basic structure of the Construction. CAB violates this philosophy of the Constitution. This Bill also violates Article 14 of the Constitution.”
