Soon after the notification of CAA by the Union Home Ministry on March 11, people took to the street against this discriminatory law. Despite the atmosphere of threat and intimidation by Delhi police, students from AISA and other left and progressive organisations protested against CAA in Delhi University campus on March 12. The protest was met with police repression and more than 70 students, including AISA DU President Manik Gupta, were detained.
Comrade Saumya, an AISA National Council Member, who was also detained by the police said that the police brutally thrashed the students and tore their clothes. She added that the students of DU strongly reject the divisive and discriminatory CAA-NRC-NPR package of the Modi regime and will resist the bulldozer raj.
In West Bengal, CPIML organised a protest in front of the state office in Moulali on March 12 rejecting the CAA. The protest, which was addressed by Comrades Atanu Chakraborty, Basudev Basu, Dibakar Bhattacharya and Malay Tiwari and Mamata Ghosh burned the copy of the discriminatory CAA notification.
In Assam's Jorhat, protests were organised by CPIML and RYA against the unconstitutional CAA and called for an immediate withdrawal of CAA. The protest condemned the Modi-BJP regime's political conspiracy ahead of 2024 to polarise the people. Soon after the notification of CAA by the Union Home Ministry on March 11, people took to the street against this discriminatory law. Despite the atmosphere of threat and intimidation by Delhi police, students from AISA and other left and progressive organisations protested against CAA in Delhi University campus on March 12. The protest was met with police repression and more than 70 students, including AISA DU President Manik Gupta, were detained.
March 14 Protest Call
On the call of CPIML protests against the divisive and discriminatory Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) were held across the country on March 14. In Patna, a protest march was taken out by CPIML from JP Chowk to Budh Murti raising slogans against anti-people and unconstitutional CAA.
CPIML General Secretary, Dipankar Bhattacharya remembering and saluting the historic Shaheen Bagh movements in Delhi as well as across the country said that the Modi government wants to push this country into tyranny by destroying the democracy and constitution. CAA is brazenly anti-constitutional as it violates Article 14 of the constitution which prohibits any form of discrimination. CAA divides citizens by religion.
Speaking at the rally, MLA Mahboob Alam said that the Modi government which has failed in providing jobs, education and livelihood to people now wants to wedge division among people in the name of religion using the CAA. We have seen in Delhi, how a police officer publicly kicked and assaulted Muslims offering Namaz and this is what the Modi government conspires to do in the country. They want to spread hatred and division. He added that toiling masses of this country will foil this conspiracy orchestrated by BJP.
Protest programs were also held in Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, Assam, West Bengal, Uttarakhand and other places by CPIML.
Police Repression of AISA-RYA Comrades in UP
In a protest in Uttar Pradesh capital Lucknow the police unleashed a wave of repression and arrests against AISA and RYA leaders who organised protests against discriminatory CAA. On March 14 and 15, Uttar Pradesh police arrested AISA UP Vice President Manish Kumar, RYA Joint Secretary in UP Sonu Yadav, Allahabad Univ. AISA Vice President Bhanu Kumar and Joint Secretary Alok Ambedkar just for carrying out their democratic right protest. A memorandum was submitted to police authorities in which CPIML and other progressive organisations condemned the police-raj in the state and demanded immediate release of arrested activists.
On March 19, the AISA-RYA comrades were released from jail. After their release, they said that despite the repression, the fight for justice will continue.
Notification of Rules for CAA Signals a Major Political Conspiracy Ahead of 2024 Polls
The democratic opinion of the country and the equal citizenship and constitutional rights movement have rejected the CAA-NRC package as an assault on the Constitution. The notification of the CAA rules just ahead of the elections underlines the urgency of the people's movement to defend the constitutional foundation of democracy and the need to vote out the Modi regime in the coming elections.
We appeal to diverse sections of the people fighting for their rights - the farmers fighting for legal guarantee to MSP, the working class fighting for labour rights, the employees for restoration of the Old Pension Scheme, the youth for secure jobs, women for freedom, safety and equal rights, the deprived people for caste census and enhanced reservation and diverse identities and regions fighting for constitutional safeguards and federal rights - to share the just concerns over the discriminatory and divisive CAA and make common cause with the equal citizenship movement. We must stand united and not let the Modi government and the BJP succeed in their design to polarise the people, divert their attention and derail the mission to defeat the fascist forces in the forthcoming elections.
CPIML Liberation
