After supporting the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill in the Parliament, Biju Janata Dal (BJD) president and Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Wednesday made it clear that his party will not support the National Register of Citizens (NRC).
He also appealed to the citizens to maintain peace and not to indulge in rumour-mongering.
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Appealing to citizens to maintain peace, he said the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), 2019 has nothing to do with Indian citizens and it only deals with foreigners.
“The Biju Janata Dal MPs both in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha have made it clear that we do not support the NRC,” Patnaik told reporters before leaving for New Dehli.
CM Patnaik is coming to Delhi to attend the second meeting of the committee for commemoration of 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi on Thursday.
Recently, the Chief Minister had assured the Muslim community that his government will not implement the NRC in the state.
Protests have erupted across the nation with violence and arson emerging from different parts of Delhi, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh and the northeastern states of Assam, Tripura and Manipur.
The campus protests have gained massive support across the nation after Delhi Police tear-gassed students of Jamia Millia Islamia University on Sunday night without any permission from the campus authorities.
The protest against Citizenship Act turned violent on Sunday in the evening in southeast Delhi’s Mathura Road after the agitators resorted to arson and police used force practically turning the area into a war zone, leaving nearly 60 people including students, cops and firefighters injured.
Following police action at Jamia Millia, protests also erupted at Aligarh Muslim University, Hyderabad’s Moulana Azad National Urdu University, Banaras Hindu University and Lucknow’s Nadwa College.
According to the new law, members of Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi and Christian communities, who have come from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan, till December 31, 2014, facing religious persecution there, will not be treated as illegal immigrants but given Indian citizenship.
The opposition parties have termed the legislation as “unconstitutional” which “is aimed at diverting attention from the burning issues of the common people”.
Meanwhile, the ruling BJP has said that agitations against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) are 100 per cent politically sponsored as some parties are trying to draw a wedge between Hindus and Muslims and that “no citizen needs to fear from NRC and CAA”.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday said it would not rely on either news reports or newspapers while arriving at judicial decisions in cases connected with violent protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).
The apex court also refused to set up a committee of a retired apex court judge to inquire into the allegations of police atrocities against students and incidents of violence during protests against CAA at Aligarh and Jamia universities and asked the petitioners to approach respective high courts with their grievances.
