Gurugram residents march peacefully against CAA, NRC

Armed with placards and banners reading ‘We don’t need CAA and NRC’, around a hundred people from different communities came together at the Eidgah near Rajiv Chowk

Armed with placards and banners reading ‘We don’t need CAA and NRC’, around a hundred people from different communities came together at the Eidgah near Rajiv Chowk on Tuesday morning to voice their opposition against the contentious Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019, and the National Register of Citizens.

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Protestors sought the roll back of the new legislation and gave a call for unity of people from all religions in the country. The participants said that CAA was divisive and unwanted, and its forceful imposition would not be tolerated by the people.

“People of all religions have gathered her today to oppose CAA and NRC, which are aimed at giving a ‘second-class’ status to Muslims in the country. This will not be tolerated, as is being demonstrated by the mobilisation against it across the country,” entrepreneur Altaf Ahmad said.

Criticising the selection of countries whose people stand to benefit from the law, he said, “Three countries were selected, leaving out other neighbouring countries. Why were Myanmar, Nepal, China, and Sri Lanka left out?”

Nazim Iqbal, another protestor, said the government was playing divisive politics by removing one community from the ambit of the Act. He said all communities had played a vital role in laying the country’s foundation, and an attack on any one community would weaken India.

Reiterating the need for amity, Daya Singh, a Sikh, said, “We need to walk together as Indians instead of charting different territories for Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs and Christians. We are against CAA, and we will keep opposing the law. We will respond with civil disobedience. If someone tries to remove Muslims from the country, we will step forward and ask that we be removed first,” he said.

Following the protest, around 20 members from the gathering met deputy commissioner Amit Khatri and handed him a letter addressed to the President of the country. The letter outlined the community’s grievances against the CAA and NRC. “The letter had received endorsements from more than 10,000 people,” said Mufti Mohd. Saleem Qasmi, who gave the call for the protest. The letter stated that the CAA was communal since it used religion as a criteria for determining Indian citizenship, and it was in contravention of Article 14 and 15 of the Indian Constitution which gave equality to all.

BJP Haryana spokesperson Raman Malik said that CAA was not against any particular community, and that he’d also join those protesting if they could point out any discriminatory clause in the law.