Representatives of over 80 organisations in the city and across the State came together on Friday to form an alliance against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the National Register of Citizens (NRC).
Called the Chapters in Mumbai and Maharashtra, both the bodies will be led by Justice (retd.) B.G. Kolse Patil of the Bombay High Court. He was appointed as the convener for the Mumbai and the Maharashtra Chapters.
A steering committee with 10 co-conveners from different organisations and communities like Jamat-e-Islami Hind, Bombay Catholic Sabha, and Punjabi Sanjhi Sabha, was also set up, with 82 organisations pledging their support to the alliance.
Abdul Hasib Bhatkar, co-convenor of the Mumbai Chapter, said, “Scores of protesters, mainly youths, were detained while protesting against the laws. We will help anyone caught in such a situation in legal ways to ensure that they can protest peacefully.”
Mr. Kolse Patil said he had spoken to Nationalist Congress Party president Sharad Pawar, who will be holding a meeting with ministers of States which are not being governed by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
“Though the States under the BJP government are opposing the CAA and NRC as much as they can, at least the non-BJP States should come together to show a full-fledged opposition. I have also written to the Supreme Court to use its extraordinary jurisdiction to work in this matter. If the extraordinary jurisdiction can not save the country, what will?” he asked.
He likened the recent attacks on students at various universities in the country to the Bhima–Koregaon violence, alleging that all the attacks were planned.
Meanwhile, members of different organisations representing the Muslim community are planning to meet Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray to submit an application requesting him to not implement the laws in Maharashtra.
“In December last year, when we met Mr. Thackeray, he had committed for non-implementation of CAA, NPR, and NRC in the State. He had also said that no detention centres would be set up. We are again planning to take an appointment to hand over an application so that a formal resolution to this effect can be passed,” Saiyad Arif, secretary of Muslim Seva Sangh, said.
