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Students across India take anti-CAA pledge
The CAA aims to fast-track citizenship for non-Muslim refugees from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Students from various colleges and universities across India came together on Wednesday and pledged to fight the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, the National Register of Citizens and the National Population Register.
The CAA aims to fast-track citizenship for non-Muslim refugees from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan. The NRC is meant to identify illegal immigrants and the NPR is a population enumeration exercise conducted simultaneously with the 2021 census.
At Delhi’s India Gate, hundreds of protesters shouted slogans against the CAA and read out a pledge that said they will not furnish any papers to prove their citizenship.
“Our new year resolution is to defend the constitution. They cannot keep doing whatever they want to, there have to be some norms followed and the basic structure of the country cannot be demolished,” said Sarthak Chaubey, a Jamia Millia Islamia student.
In Hyderabad, about 250 students belonging to five different universities took a similar pledge.“We shall not show any document with regard to our place of birth or religion and citizenship details,” All India Students’ Association (AISA) secretary Faizan Sarwar said. Osmania University professor Gali Vinod Kumar made the students read out the preamble of the Constitution.
In Bhopal, students from several institutions in the city and activists assembled under the banner of a Joint Action Committee against NRC, CAA and NPR and took a pledge to agitate against the central government’s steps.
Ainul Yaqeen, an executive member of the Committee said, “Students from several institutions took part in the protest. Several organisations too extended their support to us. The CAA and NRC are not in sync with the spirit of the Constitution.”
Another group of students assembled to support the CAA. “We welcomed the humanitarian act passed by the government…It is congruent with our ancient Indic values of giving shelter to helpless people,” said third-year B Tech student Prashant Rao Gokhle.
