The Kozhikode Municipal Corporation Council on Wednesday passed a motion demanding the Union Government to revoke the Citizenship (Amendment) Act.
Education Standing Committee chairman M. Radhakrishnan (CPI-M), who presented the motion, claimed that the Act was a deliberate attempt to partition the country once again in the name of religion and to sabotage the secular democratic nature of the nation.
P.M. Niyas of the Congress and C. Abdurahman of the Indian Union Muslim League supported the motion which was passed without much discussion.
The BJP councillors, however, staged a walkout even before the motion was presented. BJP Council leader Nambidi Narayanan earlier appealed to the Mayor to deny permission to present the motion on grounds that a lower constitutional body such as the Corporation council did not have the rights to question a decision made by a higher constitutional body, Parliament. As the Mayor refused to consider the plea, the BJP councillors shouted slogans against him, tore the agenda to pieces and walked out of the council hall without taking part in any discussions.
Row over digitalisation
Earlier, the Finance Standing Committee’s decision to entrust the digitalisation process at the Corporation office to the Kudumbashree IT unit, Technoworld, drew flak from the Opposition. Congress councillor Vidya Balakrishnan alleged that the unit was selected without any tender proceedings and that the rate quoted was much higher compared to the actual rate.
Corporation Secretary Binu Francis explained that the rate was the standard government approved rate and that Technoworld was an approved unit.
Despite requests by the Opposition to reconsider the recommendation, it was put to vote and passed.
The recommendation to entrust Niravu Waste Management to remove the post-flood debris was also questioned by the UDF councillors, on grounds that Niravu had proved unworthy in an earlier project of the same nature. But the recommendation was passed with the votes of CPI(M) and BJP councillors.
The Bylaw for the functioning of the public crematoriums and cemeteries under the Corporation was also passed on Wednesday.
IIM-K students protest
Expressing solidarity with the ongoing student protests across the country, a section of students of the Indian Institute of Management-Kozhikode (IIM-K) organised a protest against the Citizenship Amendment Act outside the campus on Wednesday.
Around 30 students, including girls, gathered outside the campus gate along the NH-766 at Kunnamangalam to stage their protest in the evening.
They read aloud the Preamble to the Constitution and condemned the police action against the agitating students in Jamia Millia Islamia and Aligarh Muslim University. The protest lasted 15 minutes.
INL Raj Bhavan march
The Indian National League (INL) will take out a march to the Raj Bhavan in Thiruvananthapuram on December 28 demanding that the Citizenship (Amendment) Act be revoked and the National Register of Citizens of India be scrapped.
A release said here on Wednesday that leaders of the Left Democratic Front and human rights activists would address the march.
The INL would also take out a march to the Kozhikode beach on December 23 and throw copies of the Act into the Arabian Sea.
