Leaders of Opposition parties on Tuesday met with the President urging him to intervene on the issue of violence in central universities and advise the Modi government to withdraw the ‘unconstitutional and divisive’ amended citizenship law.
A protester displays a placard during a demonstration against the Indian government's Citizenship Amendment Bill in New Delhi on December 14, 2019. - Protests against a divisive new citizenship law raged on December 14 as Washington and London issued travel warnings for northeast India following days of violent clashes that have killed two people so far. (Photo by Jewel SAMAD / AFP)
After a delegation of Opposition parties led by Congress leader Sonia Gandhi met President Ram Nath Kovind on Tuesday to talk about the constitutional validity of the Citizenship Amendment Act, Bahujan Samaj Party on Wednesday urged President Ram Nath Kovind to rescind the legislation, dubbing the amended citizenship law as “divisive” and violative of constitutional provisions.
The party also demanded a judicial probe into “police excesses” on the students of Jamia Millia Islamia, Aligarh Muslim University and Nawada seminary. In its memorandum, signed by its both Lok Sabha (10) and Rajya Sabha (4) MPs, the party said that a judicial probe be initiated on the “illegal action” of the Delhi Police against a “peaceful” protest organised by the students. It also said that the President should withdraw the “unconstitutional, illegal and divisive law”.
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“Our MPs have opposed the bill both in the Lok Sabha as well as the Rajya Sabha, specially pointing out that it was unconstitutional and illegal and based on religion. It is also against Article 14 and 21. We had requested the government not to pass such a law.”
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“The lathi-charge and the attack on students of Jamia Millia Islamia, Aligarh Muslim University and Nawada University by the police, while they were protesting against this law, should be probed,” the memorandum said.
Later, talking to reporters, party general secretary Satish Chandra Misra said the CAA is violative of constitutional provisions and should be withdrawn. “It is against the very spirit of the Constitution framed by B R Ambedkar. We have requested the President to withdraw the law,” the Rajya Sabha member said.
The BSP was not part of other Opposition parties in their visit to the Rashtrapati Bhavan on Tuesday. Leaders of Opposition parties on Tuesday knocked on the doors of the President and urged him to intervene on the issue of violence in central universities and advise the Modi government to withdraw the “unconstitutional and divisive” amended citizenship law.
University students across the country and many from United States and England are protesting against the CAA and the following National Register of Citizens for its exclusion of Muslims. Following the implementation of CAA, the NRC will require citizens of the country to provide documents as old as 1970 or more to prove their nationality. Those against the Act argue that many citizens especially the poor, cannot prove their ancestry through such old documents.
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