Central Govt ready to talk to Shaheen Bagh protesters, says law Minister

Feb 1, 2020

New Delhi: Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on Saturday expressed the Central government’s willingness to talk to Shaheen Bagh protesters camping at Kalindi Kunj-Shaheen Bagh stretch against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) and the proposed National Register of Citizens (NRC).

”Government is ready to talk to protestors of Shaheen Bagh but then it should be in a structured form and the @narendramodi govt is ready to communicate with them and clear all their doubts they have against CAA,” the Minister said in a tweet.

The controversial CAA, passed by Parliament in its winter session, came into force about a month ago. The new law has made special provisions to give citizenship to Hindus and other minorities, excluding Muslims, facing persecution in three countries–Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan. Protesters at Shaheen Bagh and a large section of people from across India and Indians living abroad have been opposing the CAA, saying it was discriminatory and unconstitutional.

They are also opposing the proposed NRC, which has so far been carried out only in Assam, saying it was unnecessary and unwarranted as it would only put citizens, specially the poor,
to hardship as they would be asked to produce documents like birth certificates of their parents etc , and other documents of the proof of their citizenship of India before a cut off date of decades back which they usually don’t have.

Muslims have a feeling that the CAA would be used in conjunction with the proposed NRC in the whole of India to disposses them of their citizenship of the country.

It is now one and a month since Shaheen Bagh is the site of anti-CAA protest mainly carried by women, who are camping there with their children.

Anti-CAA and anti-NRC is also going on in other parts of the country and also near Jamia University in the capital, an area close to Shaheen Bagh, by students, supported by the local population and also by a large section of people from other parts of the city. The sit-in by students began after the police attack on the campus on December 15, following violence during an anti-CAA/NRC march on the road. The Jamia Administration said that none of its students was involved in the violence and the police entry in the Campus was unwarranted and without permission.

The anger among the youth and the people in general has been fanned by the police attack on AMU students and the mob attack on JNU campus, which the students say happened with Police remaining a mute spectator.

–India News Stream