'The loose use of words like foreigner or Bangladeshis obscures the fact that the post-Partition migration to Assam has been of both Hindus and Muslims.'
For two-and-half weeks, as Kanhaiya Kumar's Jan Gan Man Yatra opposing the CAA-NPR-NRC makes its way through Bihar, it has come under sustained violent attack. Archana Masih/Rediff.com discovers that the yatris, who include teenagers wanting to save the Constitution and the Nation, are unfazed by the threats and loathing.
Anyone born in India before July 1, 1987 or whose parents were born before that date are bona fide Indian citizens according to law and need not worry due to the Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019 or a possible countrywide National Register of Citizens, a top government official said on Friday. According to the 2004 amendments of the Citizenship Act, people of the country, except those in Assam, whose one parent is an Indian and neither is an illegal immigrant are also considered Indian citizens.
The Delhi high court on Tuesday refused to grant bail to former Jawaharlal Nehru University student Umar Khalid in a Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) case related to alleged conspiracy behind the riots here in February 2020.
Jailed Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan's spokesperson accuses Akhilesh Yadav of ignoring Khan and the Muslim community, sparking speculation over another rift in the party.
The NSA allows preventive detention of an individual for months if the authorities feel that the individual is a threat to the national security, and law and order. The anti-CAA/NRC protesters have been siting at Delhi's Shaheen Bagh for over a month.
Investors are pushing back more often against companies' resolutions on what is paid out to top executives. In the first four months of financial year 2022-23 (FY23), there have already been five such rejections, according to shareholder voting data from tracker Adrian, a platform maintained by the proxy advisory firm Institutional Investor Advisory Services India (IiAS). Two of these have been at multiplex chain PVR and direct-to-home company Dish TV India.
Congress president Sonia Gandhi has called the meeting on Monday to discuss a strategy on protests over the CAA and the NRC.
'When violence spread, it looked as if Mamata was losing control, but soon, she was able to contain the situation.' 'Now, the TMC stands to gain the most.'
'Potent nationalism doesn't just distract from the economic task at hand; it actively undermines it.'
His mother is, however, undeterred and determined to participate in the protests, saying it is 'for the future of my children'.
Perhaps the BJP will win the UP elections, but that will be a political win and will leave the problems on the ground from the economy to national security to disaffected farmers and minorities intact, asserts Aakar Patel.
'And don't underestimate the enabling power of bribery.' 'Hark back to demonetisation.' 'All of the cash did come back.' 'The same thing will happen with the alphabet soup of the NRC, NPR and CAA except that this exercise will deal in documents, not cash.' 'Bribes will be paid.' 'Documents will be magically generated,' points out Devangshu Datta.
No proof, no document, no biometric will be needed under it as NPR will be conducted through self-certification, said the minister.
On the lines of Delhi's Shaheen Bagh, around 50 women along with children have been squatting near the Clock Tower in Lucknow's old quarters. The women protesters alleged that blankets provided to them by some organisations were taken away by police. The police dismissed the allegations.
'We are not a dictatorship. If the people do not desire some law, it is impossible for any government to implement it,' says BJP leader Chandra Kumar Bose.
Kapil Mishra had been invited because he was an "anti-corruption crusader", one 'IIT B for Bharat' organiser said. But in his half hour-long speech, Mishra didn't mention corruption. His entire focus was on the long "battle" Hindus had fought for their identity.
These protests helped the BJP, but it also helped the communal outfits, Ramesh said.
Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Sunday said the National Population Register and the National Register of Citizens were against the poor people and minorities of the country, while asserting that he will not fill up the NPR form. Addressing a press conference at the Samajwadi Party headquarters, he said, "Be it the NPR or the NRC, these are against the poor people, minorities and Muslims of the country."
Shah also said that no 'illegal migrant' will be allowed to stay in the country and that the National Register of Citizens exercise in Assam was completed in 'time-bound manner'.
A 25-year-old man fired two rounds in the air in the southeast Delhi locality, triggering a panic on Saturday evening. The man was later taken into custody and no one was injured in the incident.
The issue of National Register of Citizens in Assam is likely to rock both houses of Parliament on Wednesday too.
'There is a design of fundamentalists that the north east must become an Islamic country.'
'The government's job is to enable people to live together, not tear them apart.' 'It is supposed to create spaces to work, live and survive -- this country is struggling and this government is saying you have no right of being.' 'It wants to declare human beings illegal. It is the most bizarre nonsense in the world.'
A total of five FIRs have been registered against Banerjee in Assam since the publication of the NRC final draft on July 30.
'They are targeting us because we respect the law of the land, don't indulge in illegal or unlawful activities, are educated and literate enough to articulate the acts of injustice against us (the Muslim community).'
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, also asked India to ensure that the National Register of Citizens verification in Assam does not leave the people stateless.
'Modi-Shah have understood the risks their cynical mixing of domestic political motivations with strategic national interests was soon going to become counterproductive asserts Shekhar Gupta.
Kishor held out the possibility of Jan Suraaj metamorphosing into a political party at a latter stage.
BJP national president, J P Nadda during his recent visit to the state had said that rules for implementation of the Act are being framed. CAA will be implemented in letter and spirit after it.
'Umar is being targeted because he is emerging as educated, knowledgeable leader of the Muslim community and, unlike popular perceptions that many harbour about Muslims, took to peaceful means to protest against the NRC and CAA.' 'They (the State) are scared of educated Muslim leadership.'
The citizens urged the central government to look into the ongoing protests with all seriousness and safeguard the democratic institutions of the country, and take stern action against those people behind them.
'My quest to be a meaningful participant in democracy & help shape pro-people policy led to a 10yr rollercoaster ride! As I turn the page, time to go to the Real Masters, THE PEOPLE, to better understand the issues & the path to Peoples Good Governance,' Kishor said in a tweet.
"Everybody in this country has the responsibility to implement the law which has been passed in Parliament,", the minister, who was in Chennai as part of the BJP's nationwide 'Jan Jagran Abhiyan' campaign in support of the Act, said.
'AAP's next target will be Punjab.'
The black bands were worn as a mark of protest against the alleged attack on the Constitution of India with the passage of the amended citizenship act by the government, leaders said.
"The very fact that Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru believed that democracy has made revolution superfluous after independence and how it meant the complete opposite of a bloodless change," it said.
The protesters, including students and local residents, hung a large map of India outside the varsity gate number 7 showing the places where students from other universities are carrying out protests against the CAA.
Former Union minister Yashwant Sinha on Saturday announced a nationwide 'yatra' (tour) to protest against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, the National Register of Citizens and the National Population Register. The yatra will start at Mumbai's Apollo Bunder on January 9, pass through Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Harayana and Delhi and cover a distance of over 3,000 km, Yashwant Sinha said. It will culminate at the Raj Ghat in Delhi on January 30, Mahatma Gandhi's death anniversary.
This is New India, where our heroes and heroines are vilified and jailed by a State intent on damaging its own people, asserts Aakar Patel.
