The Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi has called for the statewide shutdown to protest against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act and the proposed National Register of Citizens. Barring stray incidents of stone pelting and attempt to disrupt road traffic in Mumbai, there was not much impact of the bandh in the metropolis.
Senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor said that bringing in resolutions against the Citizenship Amendment Act is more of a "political gesture" by the states as they hardly have any role in granting citizenships. The lawmaker said that in the implementation of the National Population Register and the proposed nationwide NRC, the states will have a vital part as it will be their officials who will conduct the exercise because the Centre doesn't have the required manpower.
According to a National Crime Records Bureau report, a total of 356 cases of sedition -- as defined under section 124A of the IPC -- were registered and 548 people arrested between 2015 and 2020, out of which only six were convicted.
AIMIM's West Bengal unit leader Anwar Pasha along with some of his colleagues joined the Trinamool Congress, claiming that the Asaduddin Owaisi-led party was only acting as a polariser of votes to help the BJP.
A US Congress-constituted quasi-judicial body on Wednesday asked the Joe Biden Administration to designate four nations, including India, as "countries of particular concern", alleging that religious freedom conditions there in 2020 continued their negative trajectory.
Amidst raging protests across the country against the Citizenship Amendment Act, Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Friday accused the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance government of showing "utter disregard" for people's voices and using brute force to suppress dissent that was "unacceptable" in a democracy. Condemning the government's action, she expressed Congress's solidarity with students and citizens in their just struggle.
The issue of National Register of Citizens in Assam is likely to rock both houses of Parliament on Wednesday too.
The formula of Lok Sabha polls this year wherein JD-U and BJP had both fought 17 seats each, leaving six for Ram Vilas Paswan's Lok Janshakti Party, which joined the National Democratic Alliance in 2014, a year after Kumar's exit, could not serve as the basis for the assembly polls, said the poll strategist.
Likening the National Population Register and the National Register of Citizens with demonetisation, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday said these exercises are "tax" on the poor, who will suffer the same way they did after the note ban in November 2016. "Poor people will have to go to officers and show their documents and give bribe. They will have to give bribe if there is a slight mistake in their names. Crores of rupees will be pulled out of the pockets of the poor and will be given to the same 15 people. This is the truth. It is an attack on the people," he said.
The mysterious Himalayan 'yogi' who allegedly advised Chitra Ramkrishna, former managing director and chief executive officer of the National Stock Exchange (NSE), on important matters of the bourse could be none other than Anand Subramanian, according to a letter written by former NSE chairman Ashok Chawla to the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi). Subramanian was group operating officer of the NSE and advisor to Ramkrishna during 2015-16. He joined as chief strategic advisor in April 2013.
The court asked the state government to mention how many people died during anti-CAA protests and complaints registered against police. The court also asked whether truthfulness of media reports in this regard has been examined or not.
The IUML alleged that the bill violates the fundamental Right to Equality of the Constitution.
'They have to be seen as being responsive to the employment woes and economic stagnation afflicting many young people.'
As per the plans, the survey will be conducted to identify people of four communities -- Goria, Moria, Desi and Jolah of the tea tribes -- considered as indigenous.
Defying prohibitory orders, protests were held in Delhi, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and several other cities. Protesters, mostly students and activists, were detained on a large scale in national capital and other places.
Tharoor said that if the "omission" was inadvertent, "a correction would be reassuring".
They warned that the 'prime minister and his cabinet colleagues will be stopped from entering the state' if their interests were harmed.
Addressing the Congress Parliamentary Party meeting in Parliament House, she also attacked the governor of the state, Bhagat Singh Koshyari, saying he had acted in an "unprecedented and reprehensible manner".
They have been accused of asking anti-Citizenship Amendment Act protesters to go to 'any extreme', spreading discontent in the community by calling CAA/National Register of Citizens anti-Muslim, and organise demonstrations to 'malign the image of the Government of India'.
'The curtain is coming down on India's leadership role as a regional power even before the drama of the Asian Century truly began,' warns Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
If we have already excluded Muslims from political office by default, and if we are already harassing them daily through laws, like Nazi Germany did and like Pakistan did, then why do we need a Hindu Rashtra or a change from the present set of laws? argues Aakar Patel.
'The need of the hour is unity among all Indians who wish to protect and preserve our cherished values of democracy and secularism'
'Seven hundred farmers lost their lives.' 'The protesting farmers were demonised and called names like andolanjiwi, Khalistani, anti-national.'
"I have read only the Quran Sharif and I have never been to school but today I feel excited and happy. I congratulate Prime Minister Narendra Modi for also being included in this list. He is also my son. So what if I did not give birth to him, my sister has given birth to him. I pray for his long life and happiness," Bilkis Bano said.
'PM's definition of disruption is oppn must not raise anything with which govt disagrees'
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday attacked Union Home Minister Amit Shah over violent protests against the new citizenship law, saying his job is not to set the country on fire but to put it out. Taking a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 'Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas' slogan, she said the BJP government has brought "satyanaash" (disaster) for everyone in the country.
Restrictions on the Kalindi Kunj road between Noida and Delhi continued on Friday after it was briefly opened by the Uttar Pradesh Police on Thursday night, officials said. The Delhi Police admitted that the protesters had not blocked the parallel road, but they had barricaded it to provide security to the protest site.
'PM Modi, please come to Shaheen Bagh, collect your gift and talk to us'
The protest will, however, continue online, a woman protester said.
Speaking on the resolution, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said the CAA is 'against the Constitution and humanity'. The resolution was supported by both the opposition parties Congress and the CPI(M)-led Left Front. The BJP legislature party opposed the resolution.
The Jamia Millia Islamia on Saturday declared vacation till January 5 and cancelled all exams in view of the tense situation in the university due to students' protest against the amended citizenship act.
One hundred forty seven people have tested positive for the novel coronavirus in India while three persons have died due to the infection.
'If the Amendment Bill 2016 becomes law, the indigenous people of Assam will become a minority and the language, literature and culture of Assam will be lost.'
In all this, the political establishment -- and especially the finance ministry -- appears the weakest link, and worse still, the possible reason for the political backing to Narain and Ramkrishna that emboldened them to defy all the sentinels -- the independent board, the auditors, top management persons like the chief compliance officer, the company secretary, and unbelievably the super-regulator Sebi, observes V Ranganathan.
A large number of people took out a 'solidarity march' in South Delhi on Sunday in support of Jamia Millia Islamia students and those facing police action during protests against the contentious law.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is likely to attend the swearing-in ceremony of Hemant Soren as Jharkhand chief minister, to be held in Ranchi on December 29, Trinamool Congress sources said.
Opposition parties, though resigned to the fact that they lack the numbers to defeat or stall the bill in the two Houses, have decided upon different tactics that they would employ to highlight their reasons for opposing it.
The JMM-led three-party alliance stormed to power in Jharkhand, ousting the BJP. Here's the party-wise break-up of results.
As the clock struck 12, the protesting crowd burst into a cheer to greet the fellow protesters the new year, and moments later broke into the national anthem in unison which was followed by the slogan 'Inquilab Zindabad'.
Parliament may witness another stormy day in both Houses.
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