A group of anti-Citizenship Amendment Act protestors shouted slogans and created ruckus at an event organised by the Muslim Rashtriya Manch in New Delhi on Thursday, ANI reported. The manch is affiliated to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh.
Protestors carrying posters such as “Reject CAA-NPR-NRC” shouted slogans while RSS leader Indresh Kumar was present on the stage during the event, which was organised to support the new citizenship law. They were immediately detained by the police and were being interrogated, IANS reported.
The Muslim Rashtriya Manch claimed that the demonstrators were “sent by Congress”. While addressing the event, Kumar blamed the Congress for the Partition of India in 1947. “Today, Indian Muslims don’t want to go to Pakistan,” he said. “Those who want to go are of ‘Shaitan’ mentality.”
Vishwa Hindu Parishad President Alok Kumar said that certain people believed that freedom of speech was only for them. “They didn’t come to debate but to create ruckus,” he told ANI.
The Citizenship Amendment Act, approved by Parliament on December 11 and notified on January 10, provides citizenship to refugees from six minority religious communities from Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Pakistan, provided they have lived in India for six years and entered the country by December 31, 2014. The Act has been widely criticised for excluding Muslims, leading to protests against it.
At least 19 people have died in Uttar Pradesh alone during clashes between the police and those protesting against the Act, and 26 nationwide. The National Population Register 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 NRC”
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