– Mohammed Atherulla Shariff
Bengaluru, March 15: Amid announcements by Tamil Nadu and Kerala not to implement CAA, people in Karnataka urged the state government to decline the implementation here too.
Holding images of iconic leaders like Bhagat Singh, Dr Ambedkar, Rajguru, and Sukhdev on Thursday, protestors demanded repealing of CAA, alleging it to be discriminatory and contrary to the principles of the Indian Constitution. They alleged that the implementation is to polarise voters in the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections.
The protest involved the communist party’s multiple wings such as All India Students Association (AISA), Revolutionary Youth Association (RYA), All India Progressive Women’s Association (AIPWA), and All India Central Council of Trade Unions (AICCTU).
“In Assam, more than 1.9 million citizens are suffering the brunt of the National Register of Citizens (NRC). We already have more than seven detention centres across the state. We cannot let this happen to the whole country,” said Pakizah from Assam, a speaker at the event. Among the residents who attended the protest, Anjali Lal dubbed the act unconstitutional and “against the country’s values of secularism”.
“It shall be seen in the context of growing fear and empowerment of vigilante groups,” she said. “We will gradually increase the momentum and build a strong movement against the Act,” CPI(ML) member and PhD scholar Aratrika said.
