Aligarh: The women students of the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) in Uttar Pradesh have now joined the anti-Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) protests on the campus.
As the university reopened on Monday after a prolonged winter break, the students of the women's college boycotted classes on Monday, demanding the resignation of the vice-chancellor, registrar and proctor over the university's failure to protect students from police excesses on the campus on December 15.
The women students, who later took out a protest march on the campus with "azadi" slogans, have also announced that their boycott will continue till the officials step down.
They also urged the administration to revoke the false charges and cases against the students.
Shaheen, a woman student, said that they would continue the boycott till AMU Vice Chancellor Tariq Mansoor and Registrar Abdul Hamid quit their posts. She added that they have submitted a memorandum, addressed to the President of India, through the principal of the college.
The students of law, life sciences, commerce, science and agriculture faculties of the AMU have also joined the women students' protest.
They urged the Union government to immediately roll back the Citizenship (Amendment) Act stating that it is against the pluralistic foundations of India and tarnishes the principle of equality in the country.
Mohammad Ghiasuddin, a court member of life science department said: "We believe that the CAA is a divisive law that was principally brought after Assam NRC to accommodate the Hindus who could not make it into the list due to lack of documents. The Act deliberately kept the Muslims out of loop to send an 'Islamophobic' message to the nation. We reject the BJP's hatred for Muslims and want the Union government to roll back the CAA."
The protesters have demanded that the National Population register (NPR) exercise should be stopped immediately claiming that the initiative is the first step towards a nationwide National Register of Citizens.
The students said: "The CAA, NRC and NPR combine is anti-poor, anti-Dalit and anti-minority. A large section of Indians are poor and even homeless. They cannot even afford to obtain documents to prove citizenship."
They further stated that the police and Rapid Action Force (RAF) used disproportionate force against students during the violence on the AMU campus on December 15. The students have sought stringent action against the guilty.
They said that the campus is not safe under an insecure administration and demanded that the Vice-Chancellor must resign along with his team so that students can go back to the classrooms.
