NEW DELHI: Declaring that the “spirit of resistance has awoken”, opposition parties led by the Congress on Monday called for repealing the Citizenship (Amendment) Act(CAA) and “immediate stoppage of the NRC/NPR” on grounds that the “package” is unconstitutional and targets the poor and downtrodden.
A meeting of the parties convened by the Congress in a bid to showcase their unity on their opposition to the CAA, NRC and NPR, however, exposed the chinks in their ranks with six major parties — the DMK, Samajwadi Party(SP), Bahujan Samaj Party(BSP), Trinamool Congress(TMC), Aam Aadmi Party(AAP) and Shiv Sena — choosing to stay away.
The meeting attended by 20 parties also adopted a joint resolution alleging that the BJP has embarked on a “dangerous course of sharpening communal polarization”.
Former prime minister Manmohan Singh, Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, NCP supremo Sharad Pawar, Left leaders Sitaram Yechury (CPI-M) and D Raja (CPI), Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren of the JMM and LJD chief Sharad Yadav were among those who attended.
While Congress chief Sonia Gandhi said the protests against the CAA and the NRC reflect widespread frustration and accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah of diverting attention from real issues such as the economy, her son Rahul Gandhi challenged the prime minister to visit any of the troubled campuses and speak on what he is going to do for the country.
“The CAA, NPR and NRC is a package that is unconstitutional, which specifically targets the poor, the downtrodden, the SC/STs and the linguistic and religious minorities. The NPR is the basis for the NRC. We demand the withdrawal of the CAA and the immediate stoppage of the nationwide NRC/NPR,” said the joint resolution adopted at the meeting.
The BJP hit back at the opposition, saying the resolution against the amended citizenship law must have made Pakistan “happy”, adding the legislation was a chance to expose Islamabad’s “barbaric treatment” of minorities.
Senior BJP leader and Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said the Opposition ended up “unnecessarily” attacking the Modi government in the process.
Taking a dig at the Opposition, the Union law minister said their unity stood “exposed”.
“Opposition unity stands exposed as major parties like SP, BSP, TMC and AAP kept away. The resolution is neither in national interest nor in the interest of security. It is also not in the interest of those minorities who fled neighbouring countries to escape persecution,” the Union minister told reporters.
The joint resolution also said all chief ministers who have announced they will not implement the National Register of Citizens(NRC) in their state must also consider suspend the National Population Register(NPR) enumeration which was a prelude.
It listed three dates — Subhas Chandra Bose’s birth anniversary on January 23, Republic Day on January 26 and Mahatma Gandhi’s martyrdom day on January 30 — on which to peacefully and appropriately defend the Constitution and safeguard the secular democratic republic. (PTI)
