NEW DELHI: Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Saturday described the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) as a “discriminatory and divisive” law whose “sinister” purpose was to divide people on religious lines, and asserted that the NPR in form and content was “disguised NRC”.
Addressing the Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting here, Gandhi also attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah over CAA, accusing them of making provocative statements.
The Congress demands that a comprehensive high-powered commission be constituted to enquire into the incidents connected with anti-CAA protests, she said.
She said thousands of young men and women, especially students, have realised the “grave harm” that implementation of the new citizenship law will cause. They have taken to the streets braving the cold as well as police brutalities, Gandhi said, adding that it is clear the government is “digging in its heels” as the students’ protests gain momentum.
“Not a day passes without the home minister and on some days the prime minister himself making provocative statements,” Sonia said. “The situation in some states is alarming, turning the states into police states, notably in Uttar Pradesh and the Union Territory of Delhi,” she said.
Apart from Sonia Gandhi, former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, top party leaders P Chidambaram, Anand Sharma, AK Antony, KC Venugopal, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and Jyotiraditya Scindia were among those present. Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi was not present at the meeting.
Coming down hard on the National Population Register (NPR), Gandhi asked the Congress top brass to not be under any illusion that it was a “benign exercise”.
She said the government at first thought the NRC exercise could be carried out throughout the country, but after the disastrous results in Assam it has hit upon the idea of NPR.
“In form and content, NPR 2020 is a disguised NRC. As a party in government in several states, we must take a wise and uniform decision,” Gandhi said.
The New Year has just begun, bringing in more disturbing news of conflict, authoritarianism, economic woes, crime and soured relation, she said. In a takedown of the CAA, she said the law was passed amidst strong protests in the winter session of Parliament, and was a “big issue” before the CWC. (PTI)
