Congress leader Tarun Gogoi on Friday claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was lying about no detention centres in the country as he had sanctioned funds to build the largest one in Assam. “In 2018, the Narendra Modi government had sanctioned Rs 46 crore for constructing the largest detention centre at Matia in Goalpara district of Assam for housing 3,000 illegal immigrants,” he said. The prime minister had made the remarks at an election rally in Delhi on December 22.
Union minister Prakash Javadekar on Friday accused Congress leader Rahul Gandhi of lying about the National Population Register and the National Register of Citizens. Javadekar said Gandhi’s comment that the population register was a “tax on poor people” was a lie because it involved no monetary transaction. “If there were a category of the liar of the year, he would be its recipient,” Javadekar added. Earlier in the day, Union Home Minister Amit Shah dared Gandhi to point out the provision of the Citizenship Amendment Act that takes away the citizenship of people.
The BJP’s attacks on the Congress leader came even as protests against the new citizenship law and NRC and the population register continued across India. People gathered in large numbers at Azad Maidan in Mumbai on Friday afternoon, and held a peaceful protest. Hundreds of people also gathered at Jama Masjid in Old Delhi to protest against the law. In Jor Bagh, the police stopped a protest march to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s residence. Meanwhile, a pro-Citizenship Amendment Act rally was organised at Mumbai’s August Kranti Maidan. In the last two weeks, 25 people have died in massive nationwide protests.
Here are the updates of the day:
10.46 pm: Members of the Muslim community in western Uttar Pradesh’s Bulandshahr have reportedly handed over Rs six lakh to the district administration for the damage caused during the protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act, NDTV reported.
9.02 pm: Kerala government says it has no plans to set up detention centres for undocumented migrants, reports PTI.
8.58 pm: Activist Bindu Ammini, who entered the Sabarimala temple in January, was taken into custody by Delhi Police for participating in the Citizenship Amendment Act, The News Minute reports. She was reportedly detained around 6.10 pm and taken to the Mandir Marg police station.
8.06 pm: Union minister Prakash Javadekar has criticised Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for saying that the NPR was a “tax on poor people”. Javadekar said that the register did not involve any monetary transaction and the database would be used to identify the beneficiaries of government welfare schemes.
“When Rahul Gandhi was Congress president, he would say anything and speak lies all the time,” Javadekar has said, according to NDTV. “Now he is no longer president but continues to speak lies. If there were a category of the liar of the year, he would be its recipient. His comments used to embarrass his family. His lies now embarrass his party and entire country.” Gandhi made the remark earlier in the day.
7.55 pm: Senior Congress leader Tarun Gogoi has alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was lying when he said there are no detention centres in the country during a rally in Delhi on December 22. “Modi is a liar,” he says at a press conference, according to PTI. “In 2018, the Narendra Modi government had sanctioned Rs 46 crore for constructing the largest detention centre at Matia in Goalpara district of Assam for housing 3,000 illegal immigrants. Suddenly he says there is no detention camp.”
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7.47 pm: A delegation of Samajwadi Party leaders has met Uttar Pradesh Governor Anandiben Patel, and demanded justice for “innocent people framed in fake cases” in the state, reports PTI.
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7.20 pm: The Opposition Left Front and Congress parties have taken out a rally in West Bengal’s capital city Kolkata in protest against the Citizenship Amendment Act, reports Firstpost.
7.10 pm: In the rally for the Citizenship Amendment Act in Mumbai’s August Kranti Maidan, demonstrators are carrying the tricolour and chanting pro-CAA and NRC slogans. They were also seen carrying pictures of Dr BR Ambedkar. The event was organised by BJP’s ‘Sanvidan Sanman Manch’, reports Firstpost.
7.01 pm: Aligarh Muslim University Teachers’ Association has called for a judicial inquiry into the December 15 clashes between police and students during protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act, reports PTI.
6.59 pm: Hyderabad City Police has announced that no permission has been given for any public gathering in the city on Saturday.
6.50 pm: Activist and former Jawaharlal Nehru University student Umar Khalid says that there is a significant difference between the National Population Register introduced under the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government and the one under the current BJP-ruled Centre.
“They say that NPR was the UPA’s policy but we have to understand that the NPR that the UPA had proposed and the one this government is bringing are as different as night and day,” he says, according to Firstpost. “That NPR was being brought as part of the Census, this is being brought under the CAA. The NPR is the first step before they move to leave people out of the NRC and then CAA. Please understand this.”
6.32 pm: People have protested against the Citizenship Amendment Act in Andhra Pradesh’s Vijayawada city, reports PTI.
6.27 pm: Friday prayers have been completed peacefully in Uttar Pradesh amid heavy deployment of security forces, says Director General of Police OP Singh. “The entire state was peaceful,” he tells PTI.
6.18 pm: All protestors detained at Mandir Marg police station are being released now.
6.17 pm: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee reiterates that she will not implement the Citizenship Amendment Act in her state, reports The Indian Express. “As long as I am alive CAA will not be implemented in Bengal, no one has to leave the country or the state,” she says at an event in North 24 Parganas district’s Naihati city. “There won’t be any detention centre in Bengal.”
Apart from Banerjee, the chief ministers of Madhya Pradesh,Kerala, West Bengal and Punjab have also said they will not implement the amended citizenship law in their states.
6.06 pm: Visuals of a large gathering seen attending the rally in support of the amended Citizenship Act.
6.01 pm: Over 20 Indian students from various research institutes in Israel have staged a silent protest against the Citizenship Amendment Act in front of the Indian embassy in the city of Tel Aviv, reports PTI.
5.58 pm: Four people have been detained during protests against Citizenship Amendment Act in Gwalior district of Madhya Pradesh, reports PTI.
5.53 pm: Union Minister of State Sanjeev Balyan asks for an investigation on “who sent children” to take part in protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act in Uttar Pradesh’s Muzaffarnagar city on December 20. “I’m told children aged 12 to 18 years participated” he tells ANI. “If children are involved in pelting stones, it is not good. Who sent children from Madrasas, that should be investigated. Deoband is nearby, an investigation can be done.”
Violence erupted in Muzaffarnagar and 12 other districts in the afternoon of on December 20 with around 10 two-wheelers and several cars being set ablaze along with damage done to public property. At least 30 were reportedly injured, of which 12 were police personnel.
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CAA protests: Muzaffarnagar’s Muslim families accuse police of looting cash, vandalising houses
5.46 pm: Former Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis reaches August Kranti Maidan in Mumbai where demonstrations are being held in support of the Citizenship Amendment Act, ANI reports.
5.42 pm: Leader of Opposition in the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly Devendra Fadnavis says the Citizenship Amendment Act does not strip the citizenship of any Indian national, reports PTI. He says the Bharatiya Janata Party is trying to raise awareness that the legislation will help the persecuted minority communities from neighbouring countries.
5.37 pm: Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader Brinda Karat says the central government is using the amended citizenship law, the National Register of Citizens, and the National Population Register as a “trishul [trident]” to attack people. “The Modi government is using the CAA, NRC and NPR as a trishul to hit the heart of the country’s people,” she tells PTI. “The government does not follow the Constitution. It does not know the condition of women in the country.”
The NPR is linked to the census, due in 2021, and is a list of “usual residents” in the country. However, it has also been linked to the National Register of Citizens, a proposed nationwide exercise to identify undocumented migrants and differentiate them from citizens of India. The Census of India website has described the NPR as “the first step towards the creation of a National Register of Citizens”.
5.22 pm: People hold demonstrations in support of the Citizenship Amendment Act at August Kranti Maidan in Mumbai, reports ANI.
5.16 pm: Visuals from a protest at Mumbai’s Azad Maidan:
5.14 pm: “I was alone in the autoricksaw and they just asked me to board the bus,” says a 22-year-old protestor in Delhi, who does not want to be named.
Vikram Jit Singh, the station house officer of Mandir Marg police station, says that he did know the total number of students detained. Protestors claim around 200 of them have been detained from Uttar Pradesh Bhawan.
5.04 pm:A 27-year-old PhD student at Jawaharlal Nehru University tells Scroll.in that he was detained along with 40 demonstrators while they were walking from Kautilya Marg towards Uttar Pradesh Bhawan in Delhi.
“We were only raising slogans,” he says. “We kept asking them for clarity on whether or not Section 144 was imposed but they did not show us any proof. They just dragged us and shoved us into the bus.”
5 pm: Protestors outside Uttar Pradesh Bhawan in Delhi have been detained and taken to Mandir Marg police station. Some demonstrators allege that police officials “dragged and shoved” them into the bus while they were around Uttar Pradesh Bhawan.
4.59 pm: Members of the Muslim community in Rajasthan’s Ajmer city burn Ajmer Dargah deewan’s effigy for “misleading” them on the Citizenship Amendment Act, reports PTI.
4.54 pm: People gather in huge numbers at Azad Maidan in Maharashtra’s capital city Mumbai, ANI reports.
4.52 pm: Visuals of Delhi Police purportedly dragging protesters out of autorickshaws and detaining them from Uttar Pradesh Bhawan are doing the rounds on social media. They have reportedly picked up at least 50 people so far.
4.45 pm: People stage protest against the amended Citizenship Act in Rajasthan’s Ajmer city, reports ANI.
4.24 pm: Delhi Police Public Relations Officer MS Randhawa says the force is ready to deal with any situation. “As a precautionary measure, police have deployed several companies of force in some areas,” ANI quotes him as saying.
4.20 pm: The Delhi Police have made elaborate security arrangements to check violence, and prohibitory orders have been imposed in sensitive areas of the national Capital, ANI reports.
Public gatherings have been banned near the Red Fort, 12 police station areas in North East Delhi and around Uttar Pradesh Bhawan in anticipation of protests.
4.16 pm: Videos on social media show security personnel purportedly using anti-riot shields with electric shock to push back protestors.
4.14 pm: Around 15 companies of police personnel have been deployed in North East Delhi’s Seelampur area, where protestors clashed with the police on December 17.
4.10 pm: The police have stopped protestors marching towards Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s residence in Jor Bagh, The Indian Express reports. They are demanding the release of Bhim Army chief Chandrashekhar Azad and protesting against the amended citizenship law.
4.07 pm: “Unemployment is the real issue in the county, but you [Narendra Modi] are trying to put people in a queue for NRC, as it was done during demonetisation,” Alka Lamba tells PTI.
4.05 pm: Congress leader Alka Lamba and former Delhi MLA Shoaib Iqbal take part in the demonstrations at Jama Masjid, reports ANI.
4 pm: Hundreds of people gather at Jama Masjid in Old Delhi to protest against the amendments to the Citizenship Act, reports PTI.