BHU professors who took part in anti-CAA protests dubbed ‘urban Naxals’, police on the lookout for culprits

Some professors, who carried out a signature drive against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act in Banaras Hindu University (BHU), have been dubbed as ‘urban Naxals’ by some unidentified people. The words were found written on the carbon copy of paper signed by the professors at few locations in the university.

BHU public relations officer Dr Rajesh Singh said that he is not aware of the poster.

On Wednesday, 51 BHU professors carried out a signature drive against the National Register of Citizen (NRC) and the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and appealed to the government to rethink about the long term implications of these exercises.

Prof RP Pathak, Dean, Faculty of Social Sciences, BHU, who participated in the signature drive, linked the CAA to the NRC and said they were against the idea of India.

“This is completely against the spirit of freedom struggle and the idea of a pluralist democracy. This is not acceptable in the land of Gandhi and Tagore,” Pathak said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah have said that the NRC is not linked to the CAA and that the two posed no threat to citizenship of Indian Muslims.

Pathak further alleged that an attempt to divide the society on communal lines was being made to make the real issues of the day affecting the common man take a backseat, against the Indian tradition and philosophy of inclusiveness.

Another professor, who didn’t wish to be named, urged the government to rethink about the implications.