Protesters hit the streets against citizenship law
PATIALA/ BATHINDA/BARNALA Scores of activists of the Muslim community and Left parties demonstrated against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act and the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Patiala and Bathinda and Barnala on Thursday. The protesters blocked the Fountain Chowk in Patiala for over one hour.
PATIALA/ BATHINDA/BARNALA
Scores of activists of the Muslim community and Left parties demonstrated against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act and the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Patiala and Bathinda and Barnala on Thursday.
The protesters blocked the Fountain Chowk in Patiala for over one hour. Terming the act as anti-people and undemocratic, the protestors raised slogans against the BJP-led NDA government.
Musa Khan, who was leading the protest, said the Act is unconstitutional. “With the CAA, the government is discriminating against the Muslims in this country,” he said.
“Today, a conspiracy is being hatched to destroy the country’s constitution and spoil the peaceful atmosphere. We are protesting against the CAA and government’s decision to implement the NRC in the country,” said another protester.
The Citizenship Amendment Act seeks to provide citizenship to members of Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi and Christian communities who have entered India till December 31, 2014, following religious persecution in Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan.
In Bathinda, a protest march was held from the Teachers’ Home up to the Fire Brigade Chowk under the banner of Ram-Ashfaq Rashtriya Ekta Diwas Committee to give the message of communal harmony on the day of hanging of freedom fighters Ram Prasad Bismil and Ashfaqulla Khan.
The protesters included teachers and workers of social and volunteer organisations. Workers of Left parties also joined the protest. History professor at Guru Kashi Campus of Punjabi University, Patiala, Amandeep Singh Sekhon, who was one of the organisers of protest march, said: “The CAA is an assault on the Constitution of India its spirit and must be opposed tooth and nail.”
A protest march was held under the banner of Lok Morcha and Naujawan Bharat Sabha from the Pensioners Bhawan to Interstate Bus Terminus. Lok Morcha leader Sukhwinder Singh said the CAA is divisive and discriminates on the basis of religion.
In Barnala, the Left parties held a dharna in front of deputy commissioner’s office against the CAA NRC. “Why Muslims have been left out of the ambit of the CAA)?” questioned Communist party of India (CPI) leader Ujagar Singh Bihla.
Another CPI leader Khushia Singh said: “The Act is an attack on minorities. The CAA should be withdrawn.”
CPI (M) leader Gurdev Singh Dardi said: “The government is trying to divide the nation in the name of religion. We vehemently oppose the move of the government.”
DAL KHALSA MOVES UN AGAINST CAA, ART 370
AMRITSAR: Radical outfit Dal Khalsa has approached the United Nations (UN) against the CAA and abrogation of Article 370 alleging that the BJP-led central government has been working against the minorities in the country.
Outfit’s secretary for human rights Pritpal Singh Switzerland handed over a memorandum to the UN high commissioner for human rights Michelle Bachelet in Geneva on Thursday. The memorandum reads that from abrogation of Article 370 in Kashmir to verdict on Babri Masjid/Ayodhya dispute to the passage of the Citizenship Amendment Act by the Indian Parliament, everything is being played out in India’s march to become a professedly Hindu country.