A few thousand Tamil Nadu Thowheed Jamaath (TNTJ) cadre staged dharnas at seven places in the district on Saturday against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), National Register of Citizenship (NRC) and National Population Register (NPR).
In a dharna organised at Shandy Corner in Melapalayam, over 5,000 Muslims participated to register their opposition to CAA, NRC and NPR and raised slogans against these moves being pushed by the Union Government.
The protestors also wanted the State Government to pass resolutions against the CAA, NRC and NPR following the footsteps of the Legislative Assemblies of West Bengal, Punjab, Bihar, Telengana, Puducherry, Rajasthan, Kerala and Madhya Pradesh.
“By adopting resolutions against the CAA, NRC and NPR, these States have made it clear that they would never sacrifice the rights of their citizens. Hence, the Tamil Nadu Government should also give such an assurance to its people,” said the protestors.
Speaking at the protest venue, B. Abdul Rahman, state vice-president of TNTJ, said anyone who could not produce proof for place of birth of his grandfather, his father’s and his would be forcibly moved to the detention camp and treated as refugee.
“When it was introduced in Assam, the Centre then clarified that it was necessary to identify the refugees who had sneaked into the north-eastern State from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan. However, the BJP-led Union Government is pushing the CAA, NRC and NPR across the country while the Sri Lankan refugees who are living in Tamil Nadu for more than 30 years have been denied citizenship. Its highly condemnable,” Mr. Abdul Rahman said.
He informed that their party would organise ‘fill-the-jail’ protest on March 18.
Similar protests were also organised at Palayamkottai, Pettai, Pattamadai, Paapaakudi, Ambasamudram and Ervadi. A few thousand Muslims participated in these protests.
