Pass resolution in Assembly within the next 24 hours, demand anti-CAA protesters in Chennai

The protest against CAA/NCR/NPR at Chepauk, Chennai.

In a massive show of strength, the Federation of Tamil Nadu Islamic and Political Organisations mobilised thousands of people on Wallajah Road in the scorching heat on Wednesday to demand that the State government pass a resolution against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, the National Population Register and the National Register of Citizens in the Assembly.

The leaders demanded that the government pass the resolution within the next 24 hours. Well-known Islamic political leaders participated in the agitation and were critical of the State government, especially Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami, who had accused the Opposition leaders of misleading the people of the State on the issue.

‘Part of plan’

Addressing protesters, Manithaneya Makkal Katchi founder M.H. Jawahirullah claimed that had CAA been brought in during the 1950s, the AIADMK’s founder and former Chief Minister M.G. Ramachandran, who was born in Kandy in Sri Lanka, wouldn’t have received Indian citizenship. He added that CAA, NPR and NRC should not be seen as individual elements but as a whole.

“Just like how [Prime Minister] Modi announced that ₹500 and ₹1,000 notes were no longer valid in 2016, this is his plan to invalidate the citizenship of Tamils and Indians,” he said.

Manithaneya Jananayaga Katchi leader and Member of the Legislative Assembly Thameemun Ansari said the AIADMK government should announce that it would not implement NPR in Tamil Nadu to “compensate for the mistake” it made by supporting CAA in Parliament.

Tamilaga Valvurimai Katchi founder T. Velmurugan said that the actions of the Modi administration had brought all secular forces together. “The protests will continue till the CM announces that CAA, NRC and NPR will not be implemented,” he added.