Writer Shivasundar said here on Tuesday that the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the National Register of Citizens (NRC) were both discriminatory. He was speaking at a protest organised by the Zilla Muslim Okkoota and other like-minded organisations in front of the Deputy Commissioner’s Office here.
Mr. Shivasundar said that this was a struggle against those who wanted to make this country another Pakistan. The Union government had waged a battle against its citizens and the Constitution through the discriminatory CAA and NRC, he added.
In a country where there a large number of poor and illiterate people, how could the government expect them to protect documents or have their school or other records with them. There were protests across the country against these discriminatory laws. People had realised the divisive agenda of the RSS and the BJP to split people on communal lines, he said.
Pramod Madhwaraj, former MLA and Congress leader, said that the Constitution drafted by B.R. Ambedkar provided equal rights and protection to all citizens. The people of the country would not remain quiet if someone decided to tinker with the Constitution. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah were already nervous because of the protests across the country, he said.
“Hindus should take a vow to protect their Muslim brethren from the discriminatory CAA. The Supreme Court should declare the CAA null and void, when this case comes up for hearing. The Supreme Court should protect all citizens,” he said.
“Nobody should get frightened. If I am asked to submit documents under NRC regarding my citizenship, I will not submit them. Asking people to submit proof of their citizenship is like ‘Tughlaq durbar’,” Mr. Madhwaraj said.
U.R. Sabhapathi, former MLA, said that nobody asked to be born in a particular religion or caste. Yet people of all religions and castes were living in harmony in the country.
Hence, it was wrong to discriminate against between people on these lines, he said.
Vinay Kumar Sorake, former MLA, said that it was wrong on the part of the police to entered the university campus in New Delhi and beat up students.
Yasin Malpe, president of the okkoota, Balakrishna Shetty, secretary of the district unit of Communist Party of India (Marxist), and others were present.
