New Delhi: Dipankar Bhattacharya, CPI (ML-Liberation) general secretary on Monday demanded the immediate release of those arrested under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) for protesting against the newly amended citizenship act.
While talking to ETV Bharat, Bhattacharya said, "It is the most brutal attack on the Constitution of India. The citizens of this country have full rights to oppose any misconduct of the government. The right has not given by the BJP government. It is our democracy who have given us the right. But now, the government has given the power to attack the protestors. They are given the power to declare 'Naxal' to anyone."
Terming the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) as 'unconstitutional', the leader said that the newly amended act works as a 'discriminatory' agent among the citizens.
"Our Constitution works on the principle of 'secularism', but the act grants citizenships to all the religion except, Muslim community. If the government desires to grant citizenships to the people who have been facing religious discrimination in countries like Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afganistan, then the Constitution has already a provision of granting them citizenship through Citizenship Act, 1955", added Bhattacharya.
The CPI leader said that if today this Act is discriminating between Hindus and Muslims, tomorrow it will be on the basis of caste and then it would be between men and women. The Home Minister must realise the citizens of the country will not move an inch.
The leader further maintained that the country has already witnessed the consequences of implementing the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in the northeastern states. The government has already spent thousands of crores of rupees on NRC. They knew that implementing NRC in Assam is a blunder mistake by them and to cover up the issue they came with a new law called- CAA and National Population Register (NPR).
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