Lawyers practising at the metropolitan magistrate’s court in Andheri carried out a peace march in favour of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) on Friday.
The lawyers accused political parties of spreading propaganda against the Central government. The advocates, under the banner of Andheri Centre of Courts, marched from outside the court and then gathered on the premises of the Andheri railway station (East). They raised slogans in support of the Narendra Modi government and called for communal harmony.
The lawyers distributed copies of the gazette to educate people about the Act and to “clear rumours”. Aryan Kushwaha, secretary of the Andheri Court Bar Association, said, “We are distributing the copies of the CAA so that the normal citizen on the street is able to reply to those spreading rumours. There is nothing harmful in the Act and it … does not snatch anyone’s citizenship.”
Advocate Durgaprasad Mishra said it was the government’s duty to provide citizenship to minorities from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh who were persecuted in their countries on the basis of religion. “The Nehru-Liaquat pact made it mandatory for India and Pakistan to provide security to the minorities of their respective countries, but Pakistan was not able to fulfil its promise,” he said.
Mr. Mishra claimed Indians had nothing to lose from the Act. “Many political parties who are not in favour of India’s well-being are spreading propaganda to increase violence in the country and harm public property,” he said. He accused the Trinamool Congress of spreading propaganda to add six crore Rohingya Muslims to Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s vote bank.
Advocate Sandeep Dubey said anyone opposing the Act can protest peacefully. He said, “One of the reasons of organising the peace march is to make people aware about CAA.”
