Protests keep raging in India

Hundreds of people take out a march in Maharashtra’s Pune city to protest against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act and National Register of Citizens on Sunday, reports NDTV.

The march, organised by various outfits, included some Left outfits and Muslim organisations, under the aegis of CAA and NRC Virodhi Maharally Niyojan Samiti, began at Golibar Maidan in the city’s Cantonment area and concluded at the divisional commissioner’s office.

A group of people staged a protest outside the Shaheen Bagh police station in Delhi against the citizenship law and the NRC, the police said.

Protesters, residents of Jamia Nagar and Shaheen Bagh, raised slogans against the central government and demanded withdrawal of the proposed nationwide National Register of Citizens and the amended Citizenship Act.

The group, which called for ‘Jail Bharo Andolan’, went inside the police station to get themselves arrested in a peaceful manner. The police detained them and later released them after noting down their names.

Chennai police on Sunday detained eight people, including five women, for drawing kolams (rangoli) on a road and a street at Besant Nagar to protest against the Citizenship Amendment Act and the National Register of Citizens.

The protesters, led by Gayathri, had informed police that they were going to draw kolams on the Fourth Main Road in Besant Nagar. On Sunday morning, they drew kolams on the road and an adjacent street. Their protest attracted several people and affected traffic. The kolams carried messages like ‘No to CAA’ and ‘No to NRC.’

A team from Sastri Nagar police station nabbed the protesters and detained them at a community hall in the area. The police registered a case against the protesters for unlawful assembly. Later, they were released.

Police said the same group had earlier performed a similar protest at Besant Nagar.

DMK president M K Stalin, party Rajya Sabha member M Kanimozhi, MDMK leader Vaiko and others condemned the detention of the protesters.

Stalin said the Tamil Nadu government was too scared to permit even peaceful protests.

Vaiko said, ‘It is condemnable that women who were drawing kolams outside their houses were arrested. Everyone has the right to give their views, but the AIADMK govt is trying to muzzle their voices with police help.

A civil society group has filed a police complaint against an Assam BJP MLA for allegedly exhorting supporters to hit back at Citizenship Act protesters.

The complaint against Mrinal Saikia, who represents Khumtia constituency in the Assam assembly, was filed in Nagaon after a video of the speech was widely circulated on social media. In it, he is heard telling BJP workers to pay back tenfold to any protester who dares attack them.

Meanwhile, a group of Indian-Americans gathered around the Mahatma Gandhi statue in front of the Indian Embassy in Washington and held a peaceful protest against the recently amended Citizenship Act, reports Times of India.

According to the Citizenship Amendment Act, members of Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi and Christian communities who have come from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan till December 31, 2014 following religious persecution there will get Indian citizenship.

Displaying posters like ‘United Against Hate’ and ‘Stop Dividing India,’ the protestors, about 150 Indian-Americans from the Greater Washington Area, on Saturday alleged that India’s secularism is under threat. They raised slogans against the BJP-led government and sang the national anthem.

The participants circled Gandhi’s statue many times singing patriotic songs and pledged to carry on the struggle against making religion a factor in the grant of citizenship.

This is the third such protest rally at the Indian embassy in the last nine days.

Intensifying its agitation against the amended Citizenship Act, the All Assam Students’ Union says a ‘massive protest’ will be organised if prime minister Narendra Modi comes to inaugurate the ‘Khelo India’ games on January 10 in Guwahati.

AASU leadership says the organisation is keeping a ‘close watch’ on the forthcoming T20 match between India and Sri Lanka on January 5 in Guwahati and the ‘Khelo India’ games scheduled from January 10 to 22, 2020.

‘After the Citizenship (Amendment) Act was passed, the prime minister is likely to visit Assam for the first time. If he visits for the ‘Khelo India’, there will be a massive protest,’ AASU president Dipanka Kumar Nath adds.

He, however, did not elaborate and said details will be shared in coming days after getting confirmation of PM Modi’s visit to the Assam capital.

News Courtesy: www.newagebd.net