A call to uphold federalism and democracy through sustained struggle against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) was made by speakers at the Social Justice Conference of Dravidar Kazhagam here on Friday.
The CAA was not the problem of Muslims alone, the leaders said, assailing the AIADMK and PMK for toeing the line of the BJP and voting for passage of the CAB in the Rajya Sabha.
Dravida Kazhagam president K.Veeramani, who earlier addressed the anti-CAA protesters close to the conference venue, said Muslims had been in the country for generations. The BJP was trying to usher in a ‘fascist regime’ and destroying the foundations of democracy, social justice and secularism, he charged.
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The disinvestment policy of the Central government was wreaking havoc on social justice, Mr. Veeramani said.
The agenda of RSS to establish Hindu Rashtra through divisive approaches would not fructify, he added.
Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi leader Thol. Thirumavalavan alleged the BJP was misleading OBCs who had been denied the benefits of reservation as per Mandal Commission recommendations on the plank of Hindutva. With brute force, the Centre was interfering even in verdicts of judiciary, he said.
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The CAA was aimed at making Muslims Stateless people and denying them voting rights. The BJP government was trying to tamper with the Constitution with the aim to do away with the secular tenets of the nation. People were being forced into a situation to launch a struggle to safeguard Constitution, Mr. Thirumavalavan said.
State secretary of CPI R. Mutharasan said the Centre was discriminating people on the basis of language, citing what he described as the huge allocation for development of Sanskrit and the neglect of Tamil and other Dravidian languages.
The ongoing protest against CAA will not dissipate. The CPI respects democracy and people's mandate for BJP’s rule at the Centre, but will not accept dictatorship. Disruption of educational empowerment of the poor caused by the National Educational Policy will not be tolerated, he said, while opposing NEET.
Assailing the Centre for enacting CAA, DMK Rajya Sabha MP Tiruchi N. Siva said the country was in danger of disintegration. Federalism was crumbling and democracy was under threat. Normality had not returned to Kashmir due to abrogation of Article 370. The BJP was having its way due to lack of unity among opposition parties, he said.
CPM State committee member Kanagaraj said the BJP was trying to derail democracy and trying to bring about a single-party rule..
General secretary of Manitha Neya Makkal Katchi Abdul Samad said CAA has put the citizenship of Muslims at stake. It was a stumbling block to social justice, he said.