Union Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai also said that The Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 (CAA) was notified on December 12, 2019 and had come into force on January 10, 2020 and the people covered under the CAA may apply for citizenship after the rules are notified.
Till now, the Government has not taken any decision to prepare National Register of Indian Citizens (NRIC) at the national level, he said in a written reply to a question.
Rai said as far as Assam is concerned, on the directions of the Supreme Court, the hard copies of the supplementary list of inclusions and online family-wise list of exclusions in NRC have been published on August 31, 2019
Congress alleged that it is a deviation of BJD from its oft-cited ‘equidistance’ policy as far as political alliances go.
Congress Leader and Opposition party chief whip, Tara Prasad Bahinipati alleged there has always been a covert relationship between the ruling BJD and BJP. “As many leaders and MLAs of BJD are involved in the chit fund scam in the State, the ruling party is cooperating with the saffron party fearing action by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI),” Bahinipati added.
The way BJP national president Amit Shah praised BJD MP Prasanna Acharya, it indirectly shows some internal understanding between the saffron party and the BJD, Bahinipati said.
“Naveen’s statements that the BJD is equidistant from BJP and Congress are a blatant lie,” he added.
Responding to Congress' allegations Acharya said that his party will stick to its ‘equidistant’ policy.
“If the national political parties indulge in vote-bank politics, it is very unfortunate for the country. Be it BJP or Congress, our stand is clear that we will not take sides. We will only stand by the interests of people of Odisha as well as the country,” Acharya added.
He again emphatically said no one should be allowed to do politics on an issue of national interest.
Meanwhile, political analyst, K. Ravi said the statement of Acharya in the Upper House shows its pro-NDA stance.
Odisha BJP vice president, Samir Mohanty commenting on the matter said “Acharya’s statement is acceptable and our party welcomes his decision. We praised him for the speech on NRC in the Parliament. Congress indulges only in vote bank politics."
Similarly, saffron party's national secretary Suresh Pujari, while welcoming BJD's stance on NRC issue ruled out any alliance.
"BJD’s support to BJP on the NRC is a welcome step," said Pujari adding that “The wounds of 2009-alliance are still fresh and BJD is not worthy of being an enemy let alone a friend.”
A bench of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice Rohinton Fali Nariman said that issuance of notice to those who filed claims and objections will commence on February 1, 2019, and the verification would done from February 15.
Earlier, the deadline was December 15, while issuance of notice was to start on January 15, 2019, and the verification process on February 1.
The court changed the deadline on an application by the Assam government which had sought one month extension for filing claims and objections.
The bench of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi, Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice K.M. Joseph sought the Centre and EC's response as petitioner Tripura People's Front had pressed for identification and deportation of illegal migrants.
Besides the Centre and the EC, the notice has also been issued to the state government and the Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India.
Seeking direction for updating the NRC, the petitioner organisation has contended that the exercise in Assam was necessitated due to the persistent illegal influx problem that has plagued the state for over three decades now.
"Tripura is worse placed. The uncontrolled influx of illegal migrants from Bangladesh to Tripura has caused huge demographic changes which earlier was a predominantly tribal state but now has become a non-tribal state," it said.
The petitioner -- an outfit of indigenous people -- has contended that it is necessary to identify illegal immigrants, remove them from electoral rolls and deport them for restoring the "socio-economic, socio-cultural and socio-political equilibrium of Tripura".
Pointing out to the court that on three sides it is surrounded by Bangladesh and has a porous border, the petitioner organisation has said: "The indigenous native tribal people of Tripura are in a disadvantageous position and they are not in a position to come individually to the court."
Seeking their deletion from the NRC and deportation of illegal migrants, the petition has contended that the Central government cannot pick and choose states for updating the citizen register.
Informing the court that the presence of a large number of Bangladeshi immigrants has affected the right of indigenous people to preserve their own culture, it has said that the aboriginal people have been reduced to a minority of 31 per cent.
The petitioner organisation has contended that the presence of such a large number of illegal Bangladeshis in Tripura is a threat to national integration as well, as it has upset the demographic balance in the region.
At present, about 6,92,154 refugees are living in refugee camps in the state and another 1,50,000 with their relatives, the petition points out.
The discussion on the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam -- whose draft was released on Monday - was taken up suspending the Question Hour at the request of opposition members.
Leaders of all parties briefly expressed their views on the issue. Towards the end, just before Home Minister Rajnath Singh was to reply, Shah spoke.
"The Assam Accord was signed by your Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi on August 14, 1985. And he announced it from the Red Fort in his speech the next day. The spirit of the Accord was the NRC that would help identify the Bangladeshi infiltrators," Shah said.
"You did not have the courage to implement it. We had the courage and we are doing it. Everybody here (in the opposition) is concerned with the 40 lakh people. How many Bangladeshi infiltrators are there among these 40 lakh? Who do you want to protect? You want to protect the Bangladeshi infiltrators?" Shah asked.
The opposition MPs loudly objected to Shah's remarks and came towards the Chairman, shouting slogans against the government and the Bharatiya Janata Party.
Chairman M. Venkaiah Naidu first adjourned the House for 10 minutes. But as the House was reconvened at 1.10 p.m., the opposition MPs were on their feet again. Naidu then adjourned the House for the day.
The first complete draft of the National Register of Citizens (NRC), comprising names of 2,89,83,677 people of Assam, was published on Monday and 40,07,707 have been left out due to some discrepancies in their documents, according to officials.
Banerjee also alleged people having Aadhaar card, voter identity and others documents were excluded as the authorities were "not satisfied".
She apprehended there would be problems in Bangladesh and West Bengal as it shares border with the northeastern state. The Bengal Chief Minister also alleged that the Modi government was trying to evict people "forcibly".
"Forty lakh people including Hindus and Muslims were left out. All connections including internet have been disconnected which is unfortunate. Why were connections cut? We are not able to contact them. Is it an attempt to bulldoze them? We suspect.
"It is a game plan to evict humanity and human beings forcibly and an attempt to isolate them in order to do vote politics. We do not believe in divide and rule policy," Banerjee told reporters at the state secretariat Nabanna.
She further said: "They (left out people) were made refugees by the Assam and central governments. Many people submitted all the documents. Yet, they were not considered, just excluded. Some of them are staying for more than 50 years."
Banerjee, who is going to Delhi for a slew of meetings, will seek appointment with Home Minister Rajnath Singh.
"I appeal to the Centre and Home Minister not to do politics there and consider them on humanitarian ground.The Central government can bring amendment and bills in Parliament to protect them."
The draft NRC was 'terrible' and people were helpless, she said, adding the left-out people were "not Rohingyas" and they are "very much Indians".
Guwahati: Congratulating the people of the state for the successful publication of the National Register of Citizens (NRC), Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal today said "the historic day will remain etched in their memories forever".
The process of publishing the final draft today was carried out in cooperation with the Registrar General of India, along with the central and the state government officials, under the direct supervision of the Supreme Court, the chief minister said.
The much-anticipated second and final draft of the NRC with 2.9 crore names out of the total 3.29 crore applicants was published around 10am today.
The first draft, with 1.9 crore names, was released on the intervening night of December 31 and January 1, this year.
Assam is the first Indian state where the NRC is being updated after 1951, with March 24, 1971 as the cut-off date, to include names of "genuine Indian citizens".
The CM thanked the officials, who were involved in updating the NRC.
"For this remarkable feat, I extend my heartiest congratulations to the 55,000 officials engaged in NRC updation process and the people living across the Barak and Brahmaputra valleys, plains and hills of the state," he said.
Sonowal expressed confidence that the NRC, which has become the "instrument to safeguard the interest of greater Assamese society", would be able to pave the way for realising the hopes and aspirations of the genuine Indian citizens.
Both the central and the state governments have extended their support from the very beginning of the NRC publication exercise, he asserted.
"After the government led by the BJP and its allies assumed power in 2016 in the state, I went to the NRC office on May 25 that year to take forward the process," he said.
Sonowal also urged people not to panic if their names did not appear in NRC draft as genuine Indian citizens would get "full opportunity" to make claims and objections.
"NRC is a national programme. It is the duty and obligation of every Indian citizen to maintain peace in the wake of its publication. I appeal to all sections of the society to desist from making any inflammatory or communal remarks," he added.
The names of 40.07 lakh applicants did not find a place in the historic document, touted to be a proof of Assamese identity.
The NRC will include the names of all Indian citizens who have been residing in Assam before March 25, 1971.
The application process for the NRC started in May 2015 and a total of 6.5 crore documents were received from 68.27 lakh families across Assam.
These centres will come up at City Hospital, Berhampur and Community Health Centre, Aska. At present, a 20-bed NRC is functioning at the sub-divisional hospital, Bhanjanagar.
The NRC at City Hospital will start functioning in the existing building with 10-bed capacity, additional district medical officer Saroj Mishra said.
The government has sanctioned Rs 10 lakh for it, he added.
For the Centre at Aska, the government has sanctioned Rs 40 lakh, which will function in a new building. It will have 20 beds, he said.
A bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi told Coordinator Prateek Hajela: "Don't cut short the process just because you have to meet the deadline of July 31."
The court said: "There are media reports how claims and objections are being dealt by the officials involved in the NRC. And the media is not always wrong. They are right sometime. Please make sure there are no loopholes in the process and it is done properly."
The court queried the Coordinator on the apparent possible exclusion of an ex-soldier from the NRC and called it a disturbing incident. Hajela was asked to decide the matters through a fair process and build no short cuts into the NRC process.
The top court reiterated that the July 31 deadline for the publication of final Assam NRC draft was non-negotiable and it should not be met at the expense of those who have filed claims for inclusion of their names in the NRC.
"They should be given procedural chance to present their case," the court said.
Additional Chief Secretary (Home Political) Kumar Sanjay Krishna said the process is already on to set up 200 such tribunals and 200 more will be set up soon for the benefit of the excluded people.
The Foreigners' Tribunals are Quasi judicial courts mandated to hear appeals of those excluded from the NRC.
"The tribunals will be established in convenient locations to ensure that filing and hearing of appeals is smooth and efficient," said Krishna.
"People left out of the final NRC are not be detained under any circumstances till Foreigners Tribunals declare their decisions. These people can first approach the Foreigners' Tribunals (FT) and subsequently move higher courts if not satisfied with the FT ruling," he said adding that the state government will also make necessary arrangements to provide legal aid to those exclude from NRC by providing all assistance through the District Legal Services Authorities (DLSA).
He said the process of updation of NRC is being carried out by the Registrar General of India and the entire process is under the direct monitoring of the Supreme Court.
"Under the provisions of Foreigners Act, 1946 and Foreigners Tribunal Order, 1964, only Foreigner Tribunals are empowered to declare a person as a foreigner. Thus, non-inclusion of a person's name in the NRC does not by itself amount to him/her being declared a foreigner," Krishna clarified.
"The Government of India has also extended the time-limit for filing of appeals from 60 days to 120 days, and necessary amendment in this regard has been made in the Foreigners (Tribunals) Amendment Order, 2019," he added.
“All the immigrants who are residing in Odisha should be sent back to the place where they originally belong to. Naveen babu should take steps to do the same through NRC,” said Leader of Opposition Pradipta Naik.
On March 28, 2016, CM Naveen Patnaik had informed the State Assembly that number of Bangladeshi immigrants in Odisha was 3,837 but Congress has claimed that there are more than 10 lakh such immigrants in the State.
“There are more than 10 lakh immigrants in Odisha and because of them brown sugar trade and business of fake currency are increasing,” alleged Congress MLA Sura Routray.
In Kendrapara's Pasta village, hundreds of Bangladeshis are residing with voter and Aadhaar cards. In Mahakalpada's Ramnagar, Jamboo, Kharinasi, Battighar and Rajnagar's Pentha and Satabhaya area, the number of slums reportedly occupied by immigrants has increased. In 2005, as many as 1551 immigrants were identified in the area and were asked to leave the country, however, the government's order was not implemented, as per reports.
The situation is no different in Balasore's Balaramgadi and Parkhi areas where many immigrants have settled. Apart from that, many Bangladeshi residents are living in Balasore's Adara bazaar,Talasari and Udaypur areas.
“I am originally from Medinipur area of West Bengal and not from Bangladesh,” said Bijoy Mandal, a resident of Pasta area in Mahakalpada.
For preparation of National Register of Indian Citizens in Kendrapara, the Forest and Environment Department had written a letter seeking permission from the central government. However, Kendrapara Collector has said that they are yet to get any permission.
Meanwhile, as the process for census has begun, Joint Director of Census Directorate, Prabhakar Barada, has said that like Assam, Odisha may also come up with NRC.
“The NRC will be an effective method in Odisha in the future,” said Barada.
The final list of the NRC in Assam, released on Saturday, left out over 19 lakh people in the state, rendering them “stateless". NRC is the list of Indian citizens of Assam and was prepared in 1951, following the census of 1951. The process of NRC update was taken up in the state as per a Supreme Court order in 2013. In order to weed out cases of illegal immigration from Bangladesh and other adjoining areas, NRC updating process was carried out.
(With PTI inputs)
Shah, also the chairman of the North Eastern Council (NEC), was addressing chief ministers of eight northeastern states, in his inaugural address at the 68th plenary session of the NEC here.
"Various people have raised all kinds of questions on the National Register of Citizens (NRC). I want to clearly say that not a single illegal migrant will be allowed to stay in the country by the Government of India. That is our commitment", the Union Home Minister asserted.
Referring to the just published NRC, Shah said, "lt was completed in a time-bound manner".
The meeting was also addressed by Union Minister of State incharge of DoNER and NEC vice chairman Jitendra Singh, official sources said.
A total of 3,30,27,661 people had applied to be included in the NRC. Of them, 3,11,21,004 have been included in the updated final list and 19,06,657 excluded, the NRC State Coordinator's office had said on August 31.
He said there was a difference between Article 371 and Article 370, which was revoked by the Centre on August 5 leading to loss of special status for Jammu and Kashmir.
"Article 370 was the temporary provision. But Article 371 is a special provision. I want to clarify the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led Narendra Modi government is committed to Article 371 -- from A to J. There is no question of any alteration to it," Shah said while addressing the 68th plenary session of the North Eastern Council (NEC).
The Home Minister's remark came during his first visit to Assam after the release of final National Register of Citizens (NRC).
Recalling the moment when he tabled in Parliament last month the Bill to scrap Article 370, Shah said it was unfortunate that it was turned into "today 370, tomorrow 371". "I don't have any problem if opposition expresses its objections to the government decision. But there was an attempt to spread a message that Article 371 will also be scrapped like Article 370," he said.
Stating that he had clarified it on the floor of Parliament, Shah said, "I want to clarify it (here too)."
Shah said it was necessary to clarify the point because "some people does not want the people of northeast to join the mainstream and become the part of India's development. They don't want the peace to prevail in the region."
Ever since the Centre moved a presidential order on August 5, scrapping Article 370 and divided the state into two Union Territories, Article 371 has invited attention as it allows special provisions for northeast states.
Most states that have been accorded special provisions under Article 371 are in the northeast and the special status aims to preserve their tribal culture. Article 371B deals with special provision with respect to Assam.
Allaying apprehensions, Nagaland Governor R.N Ravi, who was the Centre's interlocutor for the Naga peace process, last month said the people need not worry about Article 371(A) following developments related to J&K.
Starting his address by paying tribute to Bharat Ratna Late Bhupen Hazarika, Shah referred to the Prime Minister's remark that northeast could be the new engine for India's growth.
Dubbing northeast as "mini India", Shah said the region had great potential as it accounted for around 9 per cent of the country's area and 3.78 per cent of population.
Noting the diverse culture of northeast, Shah said there were around 270 ethnic groups and around 150 dialects in the region. All development activities and initiative should be directed towards preserving and enriching the rich heritage of the region, he added.
Quoting substantially from the Mahabharata, the Home Minister said the northeast and the rest of India were connected since mythological era.
As the northeast's growth during the last 5 years has been much more than that achieved in 70 years, Shah said the development process started in 2014 would be accomplished in 2022.
"The eight N-E states are like Astalakhmi and they will play a vital role in the country's development," he said and added, the NEC would earmark 30 per cent of funds for the deprived sections.
"Every state will identify backward villages or regions and will work to bring them at par with the rest of the country. The growth story shall never be complete until the entire state progresses."
On the Bangladesh land boundary agreement, Shah said it would enable re-establishment of link between Kolkata and Dhaka Ports. "With the opening of this trade route, the region can again become the leading contributor to the country's GDP. The government has set targets to bring all the eight N-E states on rail and air maps by 2022."
On Centre's commitment to the development of northeast, Shah said the NEC's budget had been increased 1.5 times from Rs 3,376 crore to Rs 5,053 crore between 13th and 14th Finance Commission.
On NRC in Assam, Shah expressed satisfaction over the timely completion of the process and said the government would not allow a single illegal immigrant to stay in the country.
Shah appealed N-E states to end boundary disputes and invest more in the Bamboo Mission. If developed to its full potential, it can stop Rs 1 lakh crore imports, he added.
He also said that people of the country have given its stamp of approval for the nationwide-implementation of the National Register of Citizens through the verdict of the 2019 elections.
"We had promised to the people of the country in our election manifesto that not only in Assam but we will bring NRC all over the country and make a register of the country's people, and for others (illegal immigrants) action would be taken as per law," he said at an event of Hindi daily Hindustan here.
The home minister said that the full abbreviation of the NRC is National Register of Citizens, not the National Register of Assam.
"So this should be implemented throughout the country and I believe that there should be a list of people of the country.
"I believe that the people in 2019 have given their views on this because I myself had raised this issue in every rally without fail that we are going to introduce the NRC and those out of the list would be sent out of the country as per law," he said.
Shah also said that those left out of the NRC in Assam have been given a chance to present their case before foreigners' tribunals and the Assam government has also made arrangements for providing lawyers to those who cannot afford their fee to put forth their case.
"But I firmly believe that there is not a single country where anyone can just go and settle. I am asking you, can you go and settle in America? No, you cannot settle. Then how can someone else can settle in India? It is very simple to understand," he said.
The home minister wondered where politics comes in this.
"You go try to settle in England, the Netherlands, Russia no one would allow you. Then how come anyone comes and settle down in India. Countries do not function like this. This is the need of the hour that people of the country get a national register," Shah added.
The final NRC in Assam was published on August 31 excluding names of 19 lakh residents of the state.
Referring to BJP state president Dilip Ghosh's recent remark that two crore foreigners have entered Bengal from Bangladesh, Left Front legislature party leader Sujan Chakraborty said this issue has emerged as one of vital importance.
"After Ghosh's statement and the BJP's repeated assertions that the NRC exercise would be undertaken in the state, there is lot of tension among the people. The issue has become very important. She should have taken up the issue first during her meeting with the Prime Minister," he said.
Earlier this month, the state assembly passed a resolution against NRC in Assam with lawmakers from ruling Trinamool Congress, Left parties and Congress joining hands to back it.
Banerjee had also on September 12 hit the streets against the Assam NRC and said she won't accept any such exercise in her state.
"Why did she participate in a protest march in the state against the NRC then? She is only trying to manage the situation with the CBI closing in on IPS Rajeev Kumar whom she wants to protect in order to protect herself," said Congress leader in the Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury.
The Trinamool, however, was dismissive of the allegations.
"There was no discussion on NRC in the CM-PM meeting as it is not applicable to Bengal, nor it will be implemented in Bengal. Confidence and clarity of CM is most reassuring to people who are being misled by the rhetoric of the BJP leaders," Omprakash Mishra, a fresh joinee in the Trinamool, said on social media.
The letter has been written based on the report given by amicus curiae Mohit Agarwal appointed by the Orissa High Court. Last year, in November, Agarwal had submitted his report before the court for publication of NRC list in Kendrapara.
Later, the High Court had asked both the state government and Centre to take steps on the basis of the report and form a committee led by the Additional Chief Secretary of Forest and Environment Department.
As per the recommendations given by the amicus curiae, the committee has to take immediate steps for publication of NRC.
On March 28, 2016, CM Naveen Patnaik had informed the State Assembly that the population of Bangladeshi immigrants in Odisha was 3,837, but Opposition parties had claimed that there are more than 10 lakh such immigrants in the State.
During the talks, the Bangladesh PM voiced concerns over Assam's National Register of Citizens (NRC) and raised the Teesta water and the Rohingya refugee issues.
In a 53-point joint statement, the two sides hailed the bilateral ties. The agreements, included pact for a joint coastal surveillance system.
Through video link, the two leaders inaugurated three development partnership projects -- import of bulk LPG from Bangladesh to Tripura through trucks, Vivekananda Bhaban (students hostel) at Ramakrishna Mission, Dhaka, and the Bangladesh-India Professional Skill Development Institute (BIPSDI) at the Institution of Diploma Engineers Bangladesh (IDEB), Khulna.
On NRC, the Indian side conveyed to Sheikh Hasina that publication of the list was a court-monitored process and the final scenario was yet to emerge.
On Teesta, Sheikh Hasina said the people of Bangladesh were awaiting early signing and implementation of an interim agreement on sharing of waters, which was agreed upon in 2011. Modi conveyed that his government was working for conclusion of the agreement as soon as possible, the joint statement said.
While insisting on broad-based bilateral ties, the two leaders emphasised on initiatives for development of closer maritime security partnership, and noted the progress made in the finalisation of an MoU for establishment of a coastal surveillance radar system in Bangladesh.
The seven MoUs signed between the two nations will deepen cooperation in water resources, youth affairs, culture, education and coastal surveillance.
Both sides agreed to expedite commissioning of a joint study on prospects of signing a bilateral comprehensive economic partnership agreement (CEPA).
Modi appreciated the zero-tolerance policy of Bangladesh against terrorism and commended Sheikh Hasina for her resolute efforts to ensure peace, security and stability in the region.
"Recognising that terrorism remains one of the most significant threats to peace and stability of both the countries and the region, the two Prime Ministers reiterated their strong commitment to eliminate terrorism in all its forms and manifestations, and stressed that there can be no justification whatsoever for any act of terror," the joint statement said.
They also recognised the need for increased cooperation in defence for an integrated and secure neighbourhood, taking into account the joint operation carried out by both forces during the Bangladesh Liberation War of December 1971.
Modi and Sheikh Hasina also agreed to expedite work towards drawing upon a $500 million defence line of credit, extended by India to Bangladesh. The implementation arrangements for this was finalised in April.
They also signed an MoU on withdrawal of 1.82 cusec of water from the Feni river by India for the drinking water scheme for Sabroom town in Tripura.
The two leaders agreed that the loss of civilian lives at the border was a matter of concern and asked border forces to enhance coordinated measures to bring such border incidents down to zero.
On the Rohingya issue, Modi appreciated Bangladesh's generosity in sheltering and providing humanitarian assistance to the refugees. India will supply a fifth tranche of humanitarian assistance to support Bangladesh's humanitarian efforts to shelter Rohingyas in temporary camps in Cox's Bazar. It will comprise tents, relief and rescue material as well as one thousand sewing machines for skill development of women.
In addition, India has completed a project to build 250 houses in Rakhine state of Myanmar and is now preparing to implement another set of socio-economic development projects in the area.
Hasina conveyed the gratitude of her government for humanitarian assistance provided by India since September 2017 to help meet the needs of displaced persons from Myanmar. They agreed on the need to expedite safe, speedy and sustainable repatriation of the Rohingya to Rakhine State, the statement said.
She invited Modi to visit Bangladesh, which was accepted. It was agreed that dates of would be finalised through diplomatic channel.
The documents include certificates of inheritance, birth, education, and bank, refugee registration, as well as family ledgers among other identity proofs.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah has already said that that NRC will be implemented in the entire country and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has also indicated a phased rollout of NRC in the state.
"After the NRC programme in Assam, there is a definite fear among Muslims about its consequences if implemented in Uttar Pradesh," said Maulana Affan Atiq Firangi Maheli, General Secretary, Idara-e-Sharia.
"Muslims are usually careless about maintaining their documents and need to be pushed. Nobody had even imagined that they would, one day, have to prove their nationality. But we have to be prepared and keep the community prepared."
Printed handouts in Hindi and Urdu with details of the NRC history, the Indian Citizenship Act of 1955 and the performance will also be floated in social media for maximum coverage.
Mosques, madrasas, and clerics will disseminate this information within the community.
The appeal from Maulana Abul Ifran Firangi Maheli will also request the poor and uninitiated in the Muslim community to keep the 22 documents ready but also make any changes required to be taken up in their voter cards and voter lists, Aadhar cards and other documents of identification.
"The exercise will also reduce the burden of the government machinery when the listing is taken up. This will eliminate any last-minute human errors that could put a citizen's nationality at stake," added Maulana Affan.
First Secretary in India's Permanent Mission to the UN Paulomi Tripath said updating the National Registrar of Citizens (NRC) is a statutory, transparent and legal process mandated and monitored by the Supreme Court of India.
"The issue of the National Registrar of Citizens in the state of Assam in India is not an issue of the rights of minorities. We are disappointed that this issue (is) being wrongly linked with the issue of minority rights. Minorities in India enjoy Constitutional safeguards, which are part of our fundamental rights and which are justiceable," Tripathi said on Tuesday at a session of the UN General Assembly's Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural).
Tripathi took the floor to respond to remarks made by UN Special Rapporteur on Minority Issues Fernand de Varennes, who spoke about the NRC exercise being undertaken in Assam to document and identify illegal immigrants in the state.
" I am saddened to raise the alarm that statelessness may, in fact, be increasing significantly in the coming years and even months," de Varennes said in his remarks to the General Assembly committee.
It may contribute to "potential humanitarian crisis, destabilising situation because of the risk of hundreds of thousands and perhaps even millions of individuals who mainly belong to Bengali and Muslim minorities in India being deemed to be foreigners and potentially non-citizens in the state of Assam and who may, therefore, find themselves stateless," he said.
In her response, Tripathi said that "exclusion from NRC has not undermined the rights of any resident of Assam. Those who are not in the final list have not been detained. It does not make them an excluded or a stateless person or a foreigner."
She asserted that "judicial processes must be allowed to complete rather than jumping into wrong conclusions based on incomplete understanding.
"It is a non-discriminatory process, as can be seen from the application form for data entry," she said emphasizing that there is no column seeking religious affiliation of the applicant.
She said more than 31 million people have been listed in the NRC and a meticulous verification process has brought down the numbers who are not featuring in the NRC from about four million to 1.9 million.
She told the Committee that anyone excluded from the list at this stage has the right to file an appeal to the designated tribunals and individuals still aggrieved by the decision of the tribunal have the right to approach the High Court and the Supreme Court.
Further, provisions of free legal assistance have been assured by the state to any person excluded from the list and who is unable to afford such legal assistance.
"India, as the world's largest democracy, has firmly enshrined equal rights for all and respect for the rule of law in its Constitution. An independent judiciary and fully autonomous state institutions working for the defense of human rights are an integral part of our political fabric and our traditions, she said.
In his remarks, de Varennes also said that apparently more than three-quarters of the world's 10 million recognized stateless people are persons who belong to minorities.
"The overall number of stateless and the proportion of the world's stateless belonging to minorities that appear to be at the receiving end of potentially discriminatory policies, practices and legislation further marginalizing minorities already vulnerable to human rights violations, may therefore be increasing, rather than decreasing.
He called on the international community, UN Member States and international organizations to assist in the development of guidelines for equal nationality rights for minorities so as not to sideline one of the main causes of statelessness globally, as a matter of urgency in a proactive and preemptive way before they escalate into large scale humanitarian crisis, as there is a danger of occurring in Assam.
Responding to Tripathi's remarks that the issue of NRC does not involve minority rights, de Varennes said minority rights are human rights and added that I think we have to be clear that the situation in Assam does involve human rights, the human rights of minorities in different areas."
He thanked India for highlighting some of the measures that have been taken to try to ensure that the rights of those who are involved are better protected. de Varennes, however, added that it would be much better if a Special Rapporteur was able to actually assess the situation on the ground.
He expressed hope that India will consider the possibility of inviting him to examine the situation in Assam "in order to have a better understanding of this complex situation on the ground," a response to Tripathi's reply that one should not jump to conclusions based on "incomplete understanding".
Special Rapporteurs are part of what is known as the Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council.
"Amid growing concerns over the matter, we wanted to meet the CM. We expressed our concerns over CAB and NRC. CM has assured to safeguard the interests and protect the community. He has assured that no Muslim in the State needs to fear," said a member of the Chauda Mahala Muslim Jamat.
"The CM has assured that there is nothing to fear about the CAB. He has further clarified that, CAB and NRC are different and no one should be worried about their safety in Odisha," said another member.
"We were here to express our concerns over the introduced bills. How can a poor without any documents and property prove their citizenship. Now after getting assurance from our CM, we feel relaxed," another Chauda Mahala Muslim Jamat member said.
The statement came after chief ministers of West Bengal, Punjab, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh announced that the law is "unconstitutional" and has no place in their respective states.
"The states have no powers to deny implementation of a central law which is in the Union List," the top official from the Home Ministry said.
There are 97 items which are under the Union List of the 7th Schedule that include Defence, External Affairs, Railways, Citizenship and Naturalisation, among others.
On Thursday, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan had said that "an anti-constitutional law will have no place" in his state.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said, "In your (BJP) manifesto, instead of development issues, you have put in promise to divide the country. Why will citizenship be on the basis of religion? I will not accept this. We dare you...".
"You can pass laws in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha forcefully because you have the number. But we will not let you divide the country," she said.
Describing the act as a direct assault on India's secular character, Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh said his government will not let the legislation to be implemented in his state.
"We have a majority in the assembly, and will block the bill," Singh said.
According to the Citizenship Act, members of Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi and Christian communities who have come from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan till December 31, 2014 and facing religious persecution there will not be treated as illegal immigrants but given Indian citizenship.
The act says the refugees of the six communities will be given Indian citizenship after residing in India for five years, instead of 11 years earlier.
Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel said the act was clearly unconstitutional. "Whatever decision is made at the Congress party forum on the bill, will be applied in Chhattisgarh," he said.
The act also proposes to give immunity to such refugees facing legal cases after being found as illegal migrants.
Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath said, "Whatever stand the Congress party has taken on Citizenship Amendment Act, we will follow that. Do we want to be a part of a process that sows seeds of divisiveness?".
Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram also said the bill was a "brazen assault" on the fundamental ideas enshrined in the Constitution and the fate of the law will be decided in the Supreme Court.
The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill was passed by Rajya Sabha on Wednesday and by Lok Sabha on Monday.
(PTI)
In Beldanga in Murshidabad district, a mob torched the station master's cabin and ransacked the ticket counter before setting it on fire.
The protesters, carrying posters against the CAA and the proposed National Register of Citizens (NRC), vandalised the Beldanga railway station of Eastern Railway, forcing the railway employees to flee to save their lives.
They also blockaded the track, disrupting train movement between Lalgola and Krishnanagar.
Angry protesters also blocked the National Highway and burnt tyres in Beldanga.
In Howrah district, an angry mob barged into the Uluberia station and vandalised its premises as also some trains. A driver and a railway official were injured by stones pelted by the protesters, an official said.
The mob earlier blockaded the track, adversely hitting train movements on both up and down lines.
"Some people asked me to alight from the train as the train won't go. Then they dragged me out and ransacked the train," said the guard of the Howrah-Digha Kandari Express.
"It was a terrifying experience. They broke the window panes. We all ran helter skelter. There is no chance of any train movement in the next three to four hours," he said.
(IANS)
The information was shared following incidents of violence across many states over the new Act.
"CAA has nothing to do with NRC and it does not apply to Indian citizens, including Muslims. It applies to only six religious communities facing persecution in Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan," MHA sources said.
As per the source, CAA is a focused law and appropriate rules linked to it are being framed.
The Home Ministry sources earlier had informed that no migrant will automatically become citizen of India as per the CAA, and each one will have to apply online.
The new Act will apply to the migrants of six non-Muslim communities -- Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi and Christian -- who have come from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan till December 31, 2014 and facing religious persecution.
As per the Ministry sources, the migrants will have to fulfil all other conditions for registration, naturalisation as Indian citizen.
(IANS)
Terming the legislation as unconstitutional, the protesters alleged that the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) violates Article 14 and 15 of the Constitution of India. Since there is a fear of discrimination, it is unfortunate and distressing to see that the constitutional rights in secular India are at stake.
Holding placards with ‘Save Democracy’, ‘Boycott CAA’ and ‘Reject CAB’ messages, hundreds took out a peaceful rally from Satyanagar. After covering several parts of the capital city, the rally culminated near Sishu Bhawan Chhak. The organisation members wanted to meet Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik to submit a memorandum demanding withdrawal of the CAA and measures to protect the interests of the community in the State.
“We want immediate withdrawal of the CAA to bring peace in the country. Home Minister Amit Shah recently said that the issue will be reviewed, but we want that the government should immediately withdraw it,” said one of the protesters.
Another agitator said, “The people of the Muslim community are apprehensive about the citizenship Act and we want our CM not to implement it in Odisha.”
It is pertinent to mention here that the CAA was signed into law by President Ram Nath Kovind on Thursday last week. Several political parties including BJD, AIADMK and JD(U) supported the Bill in the Parliament.
Bhubaneswar: The very fact that chief minister, Naveen Patnaik felt the need to clarify his party’s stand on the National Register of Citizens (NRC) demonstrates his insecurity vis-à-vis the Muslim votes in the wake of his party’s support for the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill in the parliament.
Muslims, who constitute a sizeable vote bank and have been consistent in their support for Biju Janata Dal (BJD), sticking with it even during the period when it ruled the state in tandem with the BJP, had felt betrayed by its stand on CAB which has since become an Act.
Soon after CAB passed the Rajya Sabha test with the support of parties like BJD Patnaik mounted a damage control exercise, assuring a delegation of Muslim leaders that the community had nothing to fear either from CAA or the NRC. But the damage had been done and Muslims, by and large, did not feel satisfied with his assurance. They were beginning to question the secular credentials of Patnaik and his party.
So when Patnaik asserted that his party did not support the NRC he was basically addressing his Muslim constituency which he is keen to retain. While his argument that BJD backed the Citizenship (Amendment) Act 2019 because it had nothing to do with the citizens of India appears specious and seeks to gloss over the fact that it discriminates on the grounds religion there is no denying his anxiety about losing his Muslim support base.
The alienation of Muslims will not only be a loss in terms of votes it will also send a negative message about the image of BJD which has been named after Biju Patnaik, father of Naveen and a leader with impeccable secular credentials. The chief minister had himself called off his 11-year-old alliance with the BJP in 2009 in what was seen as a bid to redeem his secular image that had been sullied by his association with the saffron party.
But then what were the compulsions that made him support the CAA despite being aware that this would antagonise the Muslims? One obvious reason could be the need for generous assistance from the Centre to bail the state out of a tight financial situation. His government has launched a string of welfare schemes which it is finding hard to sustain on its own. Having reaped rich electoral dividends from these schemes he can ill-afford to discontinue or even run them down. The reactions to the scaling down of state assistance to farmers under the KALIA scheme show that the government can make such moves at its own peril.
Hence being on the right side of the BJP-led NDA government has become a political necessity for Patnaik. Fortunately for him with the NDA still not having the right numbers in the Rajya Sabha Odisha chief minister can hope to extract significant concessions from the Centre in return for his support. But the support he must even at the risk of occasionally ruffling the minority community feathers. He has taken such a risk by extending support to CAA. Whether or not he can keep his Muslim vote bank intact remains to be seen.
(DISCLAIMER: This is an opinion piece. The views expressed are author’s own and have nothing to do with OTV’s charter or views. OTV does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same)
The government, in a bid to quell and address the doubts related to CAA and NRC, has provided answers to some of the most common questions related to them.
The government said that the NRC-like process at the national level has not started yet, adding that in the NRC, no proof of being an Indian will be sought from Muslims, and only an identity card will have to be shown.
Here are the answers to some questions issued by the Central government:
Q - Will the Muslims be asked for proof of being Indian through NRC?
A- Firstly, it is important for you to know that no formal initiative like NRC has been started at the national level. The government has neither made any official announcement nor have any rules and regulations prepared on it. If it is implemented in future, then it should not be understood that someone will be asked for proof of his Indianness.
In one way, you can think of NRC as a process like Aadhaar Card or any other identity card. To register your name in the citizenship register, you have to provide any of your identity cards or other documents, as you provide for the Aadhaar card or voter list.
Q - What if a person is not educated and does not have the relevant documents?
A - In this case, the concerned official (carrying out the NRC exercise) will allow that person to bring a witness. At the same time, other evidence and community verification (identification from the villagers) will also be allowed. A proper procedure will be followed. No Indian citizen will be put in undue trouble.
Q - There are a large number of people in India who do not have homes, are poor and are not educated, they do not have the basis of identity, what will happen to such people?
A - Such people cast vote on some basis and they get the benefit of the welfare schemes of the government. Their identity will be established on the basis of that.
Q - Does NRC exclude any transgender, atheist, tribal, dalit, women and landless people who do not have documents?
A - No. NRC, when implemented, will not affect any of the groups mentioned above.
Q - If NRC is applicable, do I have to prove the pedigree before 1971?
A - It is not like that. For pre-1971 genealogy, you do not have to present any type of identity card or any documents like birth certificate of parents, ancestors. It was valid only for the Assam NRC, based on the Assam Accord and the Supreme Court's directive. The NRC process is completely different (from that of Assam) for the rest of the country.
Q - Whenever NRC comes into force, do we have to provide birth details of parents to prove our Indian citizenship?
A - It will be sufficient to give you the details of your birth such as date of birth, month, year and place. If you do not have the birth details available, you have to provide the same details about your parents. But there is absolutely no compulsion to submit any document by the parents. Citizenship can be proved by submitting any documents related to the date of birth and place of birth. However, a decision is yet to be taken on such acceptable documents. It is likely to include voter card, passport, Aadhaar, license, insurance paper, land or house papers or other similar documents issued by government officials. The list of these documents is likely to be longer. So, no Indian citizen has to suffer unnecessarily.
Q - Does citizenship law affect any Indian citizen?
A - The Civil Amendment Act under the Citizenship Act 1955 does not prevent any citizen of any country from applying for Indian citizenship. Baloch, Ahmedia, Rohingya can apply for Indian citizenship at any time, provided they fulfil the qualification related to the Citizenship Act 1955.
(IANS)
It is for the first time in Odisha that several outfits have joined hands and have openly come out in support of the CAA which is being opposed by several groups in different parts of the country.
Holding placards with messages, ‘We Support CAA’, and ‘We Want NRC’, several youths took out a rally from Ram Mandir square to Master Canteen in Bhubaneswar to create awareness about the Citizenship Amendment Act.
“The main objective of the rally is to extend our support to CAA and National Register of Citizens (NRC). The government of India has brought the legislation in the larger interest of the people. Only a handful of people are opposing it,” said social activist, Mousumi Mohapatra.
Mohapatra further stated that under no circumstances any kind of violent protests will be tolerated and it will be opposed across the country.
Holding placards with messages in support of CAA & the proposed NRC, youths & social workers in large numbers take out a march in #Bhubaneswar#ProCAARally #Odisha #CAA_NRC pic.twitter.com/WW7jcxCrFp
— OTV (@otvnews) December 20, 2019
Earlier on December 17, several Muslim organisations had staged demonstration in Bhubaneswar protesting the passage of the amended citizenship law. The protesters had alleged that the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) violates Article 14 and 15 of the Constitution of India. The protesters alleged that since there is a fear of discrimination, it is unfortunate and distressing to see that the constitutional rights in secular India are at stake.
Kumar made this clear in a terse reply to queries from journalists who had sought his response on the proposed country-wide implementation of NRC, including Bihar, as stated by Union Home Minister Amit Shah on the floor of the Parliament.
"Kaahe ka NRC? Bilkul laagu nahin hoga" (NRC, what for? Will not at all be implemented), Kumar quipped as he sauntered towards his vehicle waving at the media persons who had been waiting outside an auditorium here seeking to know the stand of the chief minister who was at the venue to address the 80th annual session of Indian Road Congress.
Notably, Kumar becomes the first chief minister from the NDA camp to have voiced disapproval of the proposed move to have an all India NRC which has triggered country-wide tension and protests.
Kumar is heading a coalition government with the BJP in Bihar.
In the recent past, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and her counterparts in Odisha and Andhra Pradesh, Naveen Patnaik and Jaganmohan Reddy respectively besides those in Congress-ruled states have spoken out against the proposed move which parties opposed to the BJP view as a move to polarize voters by triggering fears of disenfranchisement of Muslims.
Kumar, on his part, has been opposed to the NRC since the days when it was implemented only in Assam upon a Supreme Court order.
Known for choosing and timing his words after much deliberation, Kumar came out with his assertion on NRC a day after he had made it clear at a public meeting in Gaya that he would "guarantee" that under his watch the minorities were not treated unfairly.
His averments could be seen as a gesture aimed at, simultaneously, assuring elements within the JD(U) headed by him who apprehend the party losing out on its Muslim base after supporting the Citizenship Bill as well as detractors most notably RJD of arch-rival Lalu Prasad who have sharpened their attacks on the chief minister in the wake of the recent developments.
(PTI)
A car was set on fire in Delhi's Daryaganj area and protesters hurled stones at security personnel near Delhi Gate, while police used water cannons and lathi-charged a large group of protesters to disperse the crowd.
Sporadic violence was reported from other parts of Delhi, Maharashtra and Karnataka-Kerala border areas as well, while authorities resorted to curbs on mobile internet and SMS services in various regions, including in parts of UP, Karnataka and the national capital. Some groups, however, offered roses to the police to underline peaceful nature of their protest.
Heavy security was deployed in all sensitive areas, including those where large-scale protests took place on Thursday that saw at least three deaths including of two persons in police firing in Mangaluru. One person had died in Lucknow.
Taking the nationwide toll to at least nine in two days, six persons were killed during protests at various places in Uttar Pradesh, where police retaliated with tear gas shells and rubber bullets after protests turned violent.
Director General of Police O P Singh told PTI that two people lost their lives in Bijnor and one each in Meerut, Sambhal and Firozabad. But officials reported a death in Kanpur as well. He said over 50 policemen were seriously injured.
The raging protests also saw some allies of the ruling BJP voicing their concerns. Bihar Chief Minister and JD(U) leader Nitish Kumar asserted the NRC will not be implemented in his state, while another BJP ally Lok Janshakti Party's president Chirag Paswan said the protests show the central government has "failed" to dispel confusion among a significant section of society.
Holding a protest march in Maharashtra, the All India Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul-Muslimeen (AIMIM) alleged the Narendra Modi government wants to ensure only Hindus remain in India with its twin move of the new Citizenship (Amendment) Act and the proposed countrywide National Register of Citizens (NRC).
Congress chief Sonia Gandhi said the Modi government has shown utter disregard for people's voices and used brute force to suppress dissent. She said the CAA was discriminatory and the proposed NRC will particularly hurt poor and vulnerable.
A top official, however, said the government is ready to accept suggestions, if any, from the people who are staging protests and asserted that various efforts were being made to clear doubts of the people about the new law.
The national capital remained heavily barricaded but prohibitory orders and closure of several metro stations could not stop thousands from rallying near Jama Masjid area, soon after Friday afternoon prayers. As the day drew to a close, the protesters gathered at India Gate and Central Park, while carrying tricolour and 'Save Constitution' banners and also raising slogans against what they called attempts to divide the country on religious lines.
Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra also joined the protesters at India Gate.
Bhim Army chief Chandrashekhar Azad led one of the largest protests, despite being denied permission to hold a march. Giving police the slip, he raised slogans and read out the preamble of Indian Constitution. Later in the evening, he sat on a protest near Jama Masjid.
The police was seen using drones to keep a vigil, while Delhi Metro gates were closed at some stations, including in the Old Delhi areas.
Police also carried out a flag march in the north-east district which had witnessed violence on Sunday during continuing protests against the amended law, which seeks to grant speedier citizenship only to non-Muslims facing religious persecution in Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan.
Delhi Mahila Congress chief and former president Pranab Mukherjee's daughter Sharmistha and some other members of the party were detained near Home Minister Amit Shah's residence during a protest against the new legislation.
Near Jamia Millia Islamia, which had seen massive police crackdown on students on Sunday, hundreds of people were seen wearing white caps with "No CAA No NRC" written on them.
However, it was Uttar Pradesh that saw violent clashes breaking out at multiple places, including in Gorakhpur, Sambhal, Bhadohi, Bahraich, Farrukhabad, Bulandshahr and Firozabad, soon after Friday prayers as protesters hurled stones, torched vehicles and faced police action.
Internet services remained suspended in about a dozen districts, including Aligarh, Mau, Azamgarh, Lucknow, Kanpur, Bareilly, Shahjahanpur, Ghaziabad, Bulandshahr, Sambhal and Allahabad.
In Gujarat, a mob pelted stones at the police outside a mosque in communally sensitive Hathikhana area of Vadodara city, objecting to video-shooting of namaz congregation, which the officials said was being done as a preventive measure in the wake of anti-CAA protests. Three persons were arrested while a senior official was injured in stone-pelting, the police said.
In Maharastra, mobs pelted stones at state transport buses in Beed, Nanded and Parbhani districts, while over 10,000 took part in a protest march in Pune.
In Kerala, police kept high vigil in northern districts in the wake of the killing of two persons in Mangaluru in neighbouring Karnataka. A series of protest marches and blocking of trains and buses took place in various parts of Kerala past midnight after the news emerged about the deaths.
Anti-CAA protesters also blocked Karnataka state transport buses in Kozhikode and raised slogans against the Mangaluru police action. The Kerala Road Transport Corporation has suspended bus services to Mangaluru.
A large number of Congress workers blocked roads and burnt tyres in Kozhikode, while a group of activists also burnt an effigy of Home Minister Amit Shah.
Karnataka police, on the other hand, restricted entry to Mangaluru for those coming from Kerala. At least 50 men and women who had arrived by a train from Kerala were taken into custody for trying to enter the city without identity cards.
Some mediapersons were detained for entering the Government Wenlock hospital where the post-mortem of those killed in the police firing was underway. The journalists, who were from Kerala, were released later in the day.
Police sources said protesters defying prohibitory orders attempted to lay siege to a police station in Mangaluru and tried to attack police personnel, following which force was used to disperse them.
Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa appealed to people to stay away from 'vested interests' indulging in rumour-mongering and assured his government's commitment to protect the rights of all citizens.
However, mobile internet service resumed in Assam on court orders, ten days after it was banned during protests against the new law.
Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal said he will talk to leaders of anti- citizenship law agitation and his government was committed to safeguard the rights and honour of the state's indigenous population.
(PTI)
"I did not say referendum. I said gana vote. I meant an opinion poll overseen by experts like the Human Rights Commission. I have full faith in my country and its people. I want an opinion poll on CAA and NRC," Banerjee told the media here.
Clarifying further, the Trinamool Congress supremo said, "When you snatch citizenship rights, then you hurt human rights too. Then for the sake of protecting the rights of the people why shouldn't I call for taking the help of experts in conducting an opinion poll?
"And shouldn't the country's non-political people, whom people all know, and who would give the right data, keep a watch on that process along with the human rights commission?" Banerjee asked.
On Thursday, Banerjee had drawn flak from various quarters after she dared the BJP to arrange for the referendum to be conducted by the United Nations.
"If you have the guts, let there be a referendum across the country on CAA (Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019) and NRC (National Register of Citizens) issues. You won't conduct it, it will be conducted by the United Nations - an impartial organisation.
"Let them play a very important role. Let there be a committee of experts of UN, human rights. Neither the Trinamool, nor BJP nor any other parties will be there.
"If you lose, you have to resign. This is a challenge," she had said.
Soon after Banerjee's statement, the BJP pounced on the issue, with union minister Prakash Javadekar seeking an apology from her while the party's West Bengal unit chief Dilip Ghosh alleged she was speaking the language of Pakistan. Leaders of Congress and CPI-M also disapproved of her remark.
Saying that he was "pained and hurt" at the statement, state governor Jagdeep Dhankhar also appealed to her to withdraw the comment.
(IANS)
In an exclusive interview to OTV, Panda debunked several doubts pertaining to the CAA and the National Register of Citizens (NRC), which have triggered violence in many parts of the country.
The newly amended law provides for granting of Indian citizenship to Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists, Parsis and Christians from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan who came to India on or before December 31, 2014. The law will not be extended to Rohingya Muslims persecuted in Myanmar.
Referring to the protests by students in several parts of the country, Panda said that I appeal to students opposing the CAA to go through the provisions of the act. However, several anti-social elements are joining the students in their protests and attacking police personnel and everybody should condemn it.
On the alleged police action on Jamia students, Panda said some persons were pelting stones and whether police entering campus was justified or not, that court will decide. However, when a law and order situation arises, to say that police will not take any action is not justified, he added.
Those who are pelting stones, they are not doing it based on some principle rather somebody is inciting them. People in the northeast had some questions in mind and the situation has now normalised there, said Panda.
“We need to understand that be it CAA or NRC, if the legislation had been brought by Jawaharlal Nehru or Rajiv Gandhi, then it would have been termed secular, but when the same thing is being done by Narendra Modi and Amit Shah then it becomes communal? We should discuss and debate it in cool mind and logically," Panda said.
Panda informed that during partition, the Nehru-Liaqat agreement was signed to safeguard minorities. It was honoured by India but no one else, for which Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis, & Christians face persecution in Pakistan. In India, the Muslim population stood at 9 to 10 % during partition and it has now reached 15%. Whereas in Pakistan, there were 23% Hindus in 1947, but it has come down to less than 3 %.
There are media reports that the minorities in neighbouring countries are being kidnapped, tortured and subjected to forcible conversions. Isn’t it our moral obligation to provide protection to them as per the agreement as 99% of them were part of undivided India?, Panda said.
This bill has no implications whatsoever for Indian Muslims. They are Indians, to whom our constitution guarantees equal rights & protection, just as it does to every other citizen. Under PM Narendra Modi sarkar, 600 Muslims those who had come from Pakistan have been given Indian citizenships so far, Panda highlighted.
Watch the full interview of Jay Panda here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mWZqzOHuzbY
In an advisory issued to private TV channels, DTH operators and cable operators, the I&B Ministry said that reference is invited to the advisory issued on December 11 on TV channels to prescribe strictly to the programme code.
"It is observed that notwithstanding the advisory, some TV channels are broadcasting content which do not appear to be in the spirit of the programme codes," the Ministry said.
The advisory has reiterated that "TV channels may abstain from showing any content which is likely to instigate violence or contains anything against maintenance of law and order or which promotes anti-national attitudes".
This includes abstaining from programmes that "criticizes, maligns or slanders any individual in person or certain groups, segments of social, public and moral life of country, or contains anything affecting the integrity of the nation", the advisory noted seeking strict compliance.
(IANS)
According to the Citizenship Act, 1955, under the first clause, citizenship by birth under Article 5 of the Constitution provides that any person who was domiciled in India on January 26, 1950 or who was born in the territory of India is a citizen of India, the notification said.
Anyone "either of whose parents was born in the territory of India, or any person born in India on or after January 26, 1950, but before July 1, 1987 is a citizen of India by birth," said the government's notification.
Any person born in India between July 1, 1987 and December 3, 2004, and either of whose parents is a citizen of India is also a citizen of India by birth.
For persons born after December 3, 2004, the notification said: "Both whose parents are citizens of India or one of them isn't an illegal immigrant at the time of his birth and the other is a citizen of India shall also be a citizen of India by birth."
For the second of citizenship by descent, "a person born outside India on or after January 26, 1950, but before December 10, 1992, shall be citizen of India by descent, if his father was a citizen of India at the time of birth".
The criteria for citizenship by registration states that a person of Indian origin who is ordinarily resident in India for seven years before making an application for registration is eligible to be registered as a citizen of India.
"Minor children of persons who are citizens of India are eligible to be registered as a citizen of India, and a person of full age and capacity whose parents are registered as citizens of India is eligible to be registered as a citizen of India," says the rules under citizenship by registration.
Citizenship by naturalisation provides that any person of full age and capacity on fulfilling the residency requirement of 12 years is eligible for grant of a certificate of naturalisation.
Finally, the provision for citizenship by incorporation of territory says, "if any new territory becomes part of India, the government shall specify the persons who among the people of the territory shall be the citizen of India. Such persons become the citizen of India from the notified date. This happened in the case of Goa, Daman & Diu, Sikkim and many Bangladeshi enclaves which became part of India in 2014."
(IANS)
In these 17 incidents, at least 12 buses of the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation and a fire brigade truck were damaged, besides a few other private vehicles, as protests rocked over a dozen districts on Friday.
While around 150 miscreants have been booked by the Hingoli Police for stone pelting, another 50 cases were lodged in Parbhani, 30 were arrested in Beed plus more than 100 persons have been booked for rioting, an official told IANS.
The police are scanning social media pictures and CCTV footage of the affected areas and more people are likely to be booked for the violence.
Three State Transport buses were stoned in Kalmanuri in Hingoli, in Beed and Nanded nine stationary buses were damaged during heavy stone throwing by some persons who targeted even the Beed Bus Depot while a parked fire brigade truck was stoned and damaged in Parbhani, the official said.
Some private vehicles which were parked in the vicinity also sustained damage in the stone pelting but there were no casualties in any of the incidents.
Massive protests, processions and demonstrations have been held all over Maharashtra in the past six days with lakhs of people taking to the streets and opposing the CAA-NRC largely in an orderly and peaceful manner.
After Friday's violence, Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, leaders of the ruling Shiv Sena, Congress leaders and ministers, Nationalist Congress Party leaders including Sharad Pawar, Ajit Pawar and Nawab Malik, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena President Raj Thackeray, and others have appealed for peaceful and non-violent protests.
On December 19, massive demonstrations were witnessed in the historic August Kranti Maidan in Mumbai, and in the cities of Pune, Nashik, Nagpur, Aurangabad, Kolhapur, Solapur, Osmanabad, Palghar, Beed and Amravati.
On December 20, people descended on the roads in Nagpur, Pune's Pimpri-Chinchwad, Aurangabad, Thane's Kalyan, Ambernath and Bhiwandi towns, Sangli, Hingoli, Beed, Nanded, Jalna, Ahmednagar's Sangamner, Parbhani and Yavatmal.
Since the past six days, several prominent central and state educational institutions and college students have been vociferously protesting against the CAA-NRC, including from the University of Mumbai, TISS, IIT-B (all in Mumbai), Aurangabad's Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Marathwada University, Pune's Savitribai Phule Pune University, Mahatma Gandhi Antarrashtriya Hindi Vishwavidyalaya in Wardha and others.
(IANS)
Twenty other miscreants were also arrested for indulging in violence during protests on Friday.
"We have arrested 21 miscreants, including Bhim Army chief Chandrashekhar Azad, for arson and rioting, damage to public property, unlawful assembly and causing grievous hurt. Azad was leading the mob," said a senior IPS officer.
The police have arrested five for violence in Seelampur and 16 from Old Delhi near Delhi Gate.
The Bhim Army protest started after Friday prayers around 1 p.m. and Azad was present in the march. However, when the police tried to detain him, his supporters took him away. Thereafter, he had been playing hide and seek with the police which finally managed to arrest him.
Speaking to the media on Friday, the Bhim Army chief had said: "Police have been attacking since morning...we have not attacked them. I have evidence to prove that the RSS has planned this attack against us. We are continuing our protest in a peaceful manner".
On Friday, the protesters marched towards Jantar Mantar from Jama Masjid, but were stopped by the police and paramilitary personnel near Delhi Gate. After this, the protest turned violent with demonstrators setting a car on fire and damaging a few vehicles. The police resorted to lathi-charge and used water cannon.
The police said Azad has been instigating the crowd and had also called for an unlawful assembly which later ended up in arson and rioting.
The Seeampur demonstration started on Friday afternoon and when it ended during evening hours, a few miscreants indulged in violence and arson after police nabbed a few miscreants from the spot.
(IANS)
Around 400 to 500 people gathered here to protest against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act amid a bandh call, they said.
Five protesters were hospitalised and the condition of one of them was stated to be critical, District Magistrate Aunjaneya Singh said.
"Over a dozen policemen also suffered minor injuries during stone pelting by protesters that included children between the ages of 12 and 18 years," Singh told PTI.
Another dozen protesters also suffered minor injuries in tear gas shelling by the police, he said.
A call for a bandh was given in Rampur on Saturday by anti-CAA protesters even as CrPc Section 144, which bars assembly of people, was in force in the region.
(PTI)
The snap poll was carried out on over 3,000 citizens across the country between December 17 to 19 with booster sample of over 500 people each in Assam, the northeast and Muslim community collected during the same period.
The report said that 62.1 per cent of people across the country said that they were in support of the CAA while 36.8 per cent people said that they were against it.
The report also showed that in east, west, north and south India, 57.3, 64.2, 67.7 and 58.5 per cent of people favoured the act, respectively, while 42.7 per cent in the east, 35.4 per cent in the west, 31.2 per cent in the north and 38.8 per cent people in the south said that they were not in support of the controversial law.
In the northeastern states, where there have been massive protests over the act in the last one week, the report highlighted that 50.6 per cent people favoured the act while 47.4 per cent opposed it.
The survey pointed out that in Assam, 68.1 per cent people were against the CAA, while 31 per cent were in favour of the act.
The report also revealed that among Muslims, 63.5 per cent were against the act, 35.5 supported it and 0.9 per cent said that they don't know or cannot comment. In the Hindus, 66.7 per cent supported the Act and 32.3 per cent opposed it.
Similarly, among other religions, about 62.7 per cent people voted in favour of the CAA and 36 per cent against it.
However, to another question, if they think that under the guise of CAA, people can also settle in the country and then become a threat to society and security, 64.4 per cent across the country responded with yes while 32.6 per cent people said no.
The survey said that in east, west and north India, 69, 66, and 72.8 per cent people, respectively, thought that the people coming from other countries and settling in India can become a security threat. However, only 47.2 per cent people in south India shared this stand, while 50 per cent people said they don't think that they those of other countries settling here will become a security threat.
In northeastern states, about 59.8 per cent of the people agreed with this apprehension while 35.7 people differed. Meanwhile, in Assam, 73.4 per cent voted that they believe foreigners settling in India could become a trouble for society and security while 21.8 per cent differed with them.
Among Hindus and Muslims, 65.3 and 67.5 per cent of people, respectively, said yes while 33 and 28.2 per cent, respectively, expressed disagreement.
To a question over if they support the stand taken by the government and the opposition parties on the CAA, over 58.6 per cent people across the country favoured the government while 31.7 per cent supported the opposition parties.
Similarly, most people of east, west, north and northeast India supported the government, while over 47.2 per cent of the people in south India supported the stand taken by the Opposition parties.
In Assam, as much as 53.5 per cent people remained in favour of stand taken by the opposition parties while only 33.7 per cent favoured the stand of the government.
Hindus and Muslims remained divided on supporting the government stand on CAA as 67 per cent Hindus voted in favour of the government while 71.5 per cent Muslims supported the stand taken by the opposition parties over the Act.
(IANS)
The snap poll was carried out on over 3,000 citizens across the country between December 17 to 19 with booster sample of over 500 people each in Assam, the northeast and Muslim community collected during the same period.
As per the survey, 65.4 per cent people across the country want the implementation of the NRC across the country, 28.3 per cent people opposed the measure, while 6.3 per cent people did not want to comment on the issue and or said that they don't know about it.
However, among the Muslims, 66.2 per cent people did not want the NRC to be implemented across the country while 28.5 per cent of them favoured the idea. Among Hindus, 72.1 per cent favoured the idea while 21.3 per cent opposed it.
The report also showed that in east, west, north and south India, 65.9, 67.5, 73.8 and 52.1 per cent people wanted the NRC to be implemented across the country while 31.4 per cent in east, 22.1 per cent in west, 20.1 per cent in north and 40.6 per cent in South India did not want the NRC to be implemented.
In the northeastern states, 73.4 per cent people favoured the idea of implementing the NRC countrywide while 22 per cent opposed the idea. In Assam - where a Supreme Court-monitored NRC exercise has already been conducted, 76.9 per cent people were in favour of its implementation, while 16.5 per cent were against it.
To another question why people think that Bangladeshi minority immigrants want to live in India, 61.4 per cent people across the country felt that India has "better economic opportunities" and 23.8 per cent thought they wanted to live in India as "they were persecuted" there. 14.8 per cent declined to comment or said that they had no idea.
(IANS)
As many as 705 persons were arrested for committing substantive offences and 4,500 were detained across the state, IG (Law and Order) Praveen Kumar said here on Saturday.
The number of policemen injured were 263 of whom 57 received firearm injuries, he said.
Across the state, 405 empty cases of bullets were recovered from the protest sites, which "prima facie hints that how unruly elements were firing at the police. As many as 15 persons have lost their lives since Thursday, " Kumar said.
Maintaining that the police did not open fire, Director General of Police O P Singh said, "Women and children were used as shields by the protestors."
"All the deaths that took place have been in cross firing and this will become clear in postmortem examination," the DGP told reporters.
"We are clear and transparent in this. If anyone died due to our fire we will conduct a judicial inquiry and take action. But nothing happened from our side," the DGP stressed.
IG Kumar said 102 persons have been also arrested for making objectionable remarks and posting objectionable content on various social media platforms.
"So far action has been taken against 14,101 social media posts. This includes 5,965 Twitter posts; 7,995 Facebook (accounts) and 141 Youtube."
In Kanpur, anti-CAA protestors on Saturday set Yatimkhana police post on fire and indulged in heavy brick batting, leading to injury to some people.
Police had to lob tear gas shells and use canes to chase them away, and fire tenders were rushed to control the flame.
ADG (Kanpur) Prem Prakash said Rapid Action Force has been called out along with 'Vajr' vehicles to control the situation.
Samajwadi Party MLA Amitabh Bajpai and former party MLA Kamlesh Tewari were arrested as a precautionary measure and their vehicles seized.
Officials said crowds gathered in areas like Babupurva, Nai Sadak, Moolganj, Dalelpurva and Haleem College and police in large numbers was deployed to keep a watch over the situation.
Clashes broke out in Rampur between anti-CAA protesters and police on Saturday, resulting in injuries to several people, including policemen, officials said.
Around 400 to 500 people gathered here to protest against the Act amid a bandh call and five of them were taken into preventive custody, they said.
Five protesters were hospitalised and the condition of one of them was stated to be critical, District Magistrate Aunjaneya Singh said.
"Over a dozen policemen also suffered minor injuries during stone-pelting by the protesters, including children aged between 12 and 18 years," he told PTI.
Another dozen protesters suffered minor injuries in tear gas shelling by police, Singh said.
The DM suspected the involvement of non-locals in the protest and said, "Police did not open fire anywhere, yet one protester had a gunshot injury."
A bandh call was given by the protesters in Rampur on Saturday even as section 144 of the CrPC, which bars assembly of people, is in force in the region and internet remains suspended.
After a lull of four days, AMU campus again witnessed protests on Saturday with hundreds of AMU non-teaching staff joining hands with AMU teachers' association, protesting against the CAA and "police atrocities" against the agitators in various parts of the state on Friday.
Police had to use mild force on Friday evening to disperse a large crowd of protestors at Shahjamal under Delhi Gate police station in Aligarh.
SSP Aligarh Ashok Kulhari said protests have been peaceful and Shahr mufti Khalid Hamid played an important role in defusing tension.
AMU vice chancellor Tariq Mansoor has set up a one-man internal inquiry by retired chief justice of Chhattisgarh high court VK Gupta into the clashes on December 15-16.
In the western UP district of Kasganj, internet services were suspended following tension, but police described the situation as under control.
On Friday, four deaths were reported from Meerut district, three from Firozabad and two each in Kanpur and Bijnor, and one in Sambhal. An 8-year-old boy was killed in a stampede in Varanasi when a violent mob was being chased by policemen.
On Thursday, one person was killed in Lucknow during clashes, officials said, adding so far 218 people have been arrested in the state capital.
Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath is reported to have cancelled all his programmes outside the state capital.
"None indulging in violence will be spared," Adityanath said in a tweet, asserting that every citizen will be provided security.
Officials said in view of the court directives, valuation process of the damage in incidents of clashes was going on and preparations were on to serve notices for recovery from the protestors in Lucknow.
Adityanath met Governor Anandiben Patel, who appealed to the people to maintain peace and asked them to not pay heed to rumours.
Claiming that outsiders were involved in the violence, the DGP said presence of members of political parties and of NGOs also could not be ruled out.
Internet services were suspended across major cities in Uttar Pradesh, following state government orders.
BSP president Mayawati, in a tweet on Saturday, asked the Centre to give up its "stubborn stand" and withdraw its decisions.
(PTI)
The government on Saturday released 13 FAQs on NRC as there has been widespread agitation on the issue of NRC and several apprehensions in the minds of the people.
On the issue of if the person is illiterate and does not have relevant documents, it has been clarified through the FAQs that in this case, the authorities will allow that person to bring a witness. Also, other evidence and community verification will also be allowed. According to the information put in public domain, a proper procedure will be followed and "No Indian citizen will be put in undue trouble", it added.
To the question that under NRC will the citizens have to prove that they are Indians, the FAQ has clarified that first of all, it is important to know that at the national level, no announcement has been made to begin the NRC process.
"If it is implemented, it does not mean that anyone will be asked for proof of being Indian," it said.
NRC is merely a normal process to register your name in the Citizens' Register.
"Just like we present our identity cards or any other document for registering our names in the voter list or getting Aadhaar Card made, similar documents shall need to be provided for NRC, as and when it is carried out," the FAQ added.
On whether ancestry is required to be proven pre-1971, the FAQ says the answer is no.
"For pre-1971 genealogy, you do not have to submit any type of identity card or any documents like the birth certificate of parents/ancestors. It was valid only for the Assam NRC, based on the 'Assam Accord' and the directive of the Honourable Supreme Court. For the rest of the country, the NRC process is completely different and under The Citizenship (Registration of Citizens and Issue of National Identity Cards) Rules, 2003," it added.
On a contentious question whether old documents are required, it says that there is nothing like that. Common documents will only be required to prove identity. When the NRC is announced at the national level, then rules and instructions will be made for it in such a way that no one will face any trouble.
"The government has no intention of harassing its citizens or putting them in trouble," it said.
(IANS)
Addressing a rally at Ramlila Maidan here, he said the citizenship law and the proposed National Register of Citizens have nothing to do with Indian Muslims.
A lie is being spread that this government had brought the law to snatch people's rights, the prime minister said and dared rivals to find anything discriminatory in his work.
Unable to challenge him in elections, Modi asserted, his rivals have resorted to dividing the country through rumours.
Without naming the rival parties, he said people were incited by those in high positions, who shared fake videos.
(PTI)
The deceased have been identified as Mohsin, Aasif, Zahir, Aalim, all residents of Meerut, and Asif from Delhi, Inspector General Alok Singh said.
During the protests on Friday, protesters had torched vehicles and pelted stones at police, who used lathi-charge and lobbed tear gas shells to disperse mobs.
Thirty-five policemen were also injured in Friday's violence. They are undergoing treatment at different hospitals in the city, Singh said.
Police have arrested 102 people in connection with the violence and efforts are on to nab the other suspects, he added.
Singh said internet services have been shut down for now and social media is being continuously monitored for inflammatory posts.
To maintain law and order, peace committees have been constituted under police stations and local residents have also been roped in, he said.
(PTI)
"Hate me if you want to, but don't hate India. Burn my effigy, but don't burn a poor man's auto-rickshaw," Modi said during his over-an-hour-long speech.
Modi began his speech with a new slogan: "Vividhta me Ekta, Bharat ki visheshta (unity in diversity is India's essence) to the cheering crowds.
He blamed political propaganda that triggered arson and burning of public properties.
Modi said his government provided land ownership to 40 lakh people of 1,731 unauthorised colonies in Delhi. He said over 1,700 colonies have been demarcated and added that the maps for 1,200 colonies are ready.
Attacking the so-called urban Naxals, the PM said they were spreading rumours that all Muslims would be sent to detention centres. "These are all lies. Respect education," he said.
Earlier, Delhi BJP Chief Manoj Tiwari welcomed the Prime Minister and thanked him for regularization of the unauthorised colonies in the national capital.
Calling the Prime Minister a 'messiah' of the poor, Tiwari said BJP never goes back on its promises.
Tiwari said Delhi also needs a government of the BJP at least for five years. He chanted Modi's name to draw cheers from the crowd.
Union MInister Prakash Javadekar said, " Delhi will go to the polls in the next 45 days. I see BJP coming to power with a full majority."
"What do you want -- development or destruction, nationalism or anarchy, anti-national slogans raised in JNU (Jawaharlal Nehru University) or those who would end such activities?" said Javadekar.
Member of Parliament from New Delhi, Minakshi Lekhi said, "We are not here to make India a 'Hindu Rashtra', but to keep the essence of Hindustan." She accused opposition parties of using students against the Citizenship Amendment Act.
Hansraj Hans, another MP from Delhi, showered praise on the PM and sang a song.
(IANS)
Two persons had died on Friday in clashes between the protesters and police.
Another person, Mohd Raees, who sustained critical injuries in Babupurwa, was admitted to the Hallet Hospital on Saturday for treatment, Kanpur range Inspector General Mohit Agarwal said.
The officer said the role of AIMIM workers and SIMI activists was being suspected behind the violence.
"Cases have been registered against a large number of SIMI workers," he said.
Kanpur zone Additional Director General Prem Prakash told reporters that a possible angle of ISI funding was also being looked into.
(PTI)
Rituparna Borah, who hails from Assam's Lakhimpur district, said it is very difficult for LGBTQ members to procure documents if families turn hostile towards them.
"What if my parents throw me out of the house. People elope, leave their houses because of violence. In such a situation, all they have is an Aadhaar card.
"It's very difficult to go back to violent families to get documents. How will I prove I am an Indian?" Borah asked.
Secondly, among transgenders, name and sex in a birth certificate or a school certificate is different than in identity documents, she said.
"How do you establish it's the same person. According to reports, around 2,000 trans-women have been excluded from Assam NRC," Borah claimed.
Ray, 24, said her documents still say she's male. If a countrywide NRC comes in, there will be discrepancies in documents.
"Which means the bureaucracy will get to exercise its discretion and we will be thrown out. It's already difficult to establish our names and sexes. How do you expect us to prove our lineage?" she asked.
Divya Dureja, a queer psychologist, said in a large number of cases, gender assigned at birth do not match with the gender in identity documents.
"Due to this, the community members are living under constant fear of being excluded in a pan-India NRC."
Dureja claimed she has been receiving an increased number of patients who "complain of anxiety and depression due to the prevailing situation".
(PTI)
Chowdhury said the contentious law is against humanity and the citizens of the country "living here for ages".
"We may not allow him (Shah) to step out of the city airport if necessary. We may gather one lakh people there to stop him," he said at a Jamiat-Ulema-e-Hind rally against the CAA.
Reacting to his remarks, BJP's West Bengal unit chief Dilip Ghosh told PTI that Chowdhury has made such "provocative comments" in the past, too, with the "tacit support of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee."
"How can a state minister issue such a threat? If they (Shah, PM Narendra Modi) are stopped from moving around in the city, then imagine the situation of others who don't share its (Trinamool Congress) views? Stop playing with fire," Ghosh said.
The state's library service minister claimed that Jamiat-Ulema-e-Hind's movement would be democratic and peaceful.
"We don't believe in violent protests, but we will certainly oppose CAA and the National Register of Citizens (NRC) tooth and nail," he said.
The minister said the BJP has already been rejected by the people. "Just look at the ongoing protests all over the country, including in Kolkata," he said.
Chowdhury, who addressed the rally at Rani Rasmoni Avenue, said the "56-inch chest" of PM Narendra Modi has let down the people of the country, as he is "pursuing the politics of hatred and division".
"What they (Modi and Shah) are doing is thrusting one agenda after another on the people. They don't believe in discussion, they don't believe in dialogue. We won't let them pursue this," he asserted.
The speakers at the rally also thanked Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for hitting the streets to register her protest against CAA and NRC.
"Please don't resort to violence, demonstrate peacefully. Muslims, Hindus and members of other communities in Bengal are fighting the CAA and NRC battle together. We must maintain that amity," one of the speakers said in his address.
Ghosh further accused Chowdhury and Banerjee of allowing violence to continue unabated for three days since December 13 during the anti-CAA protests.
"If people like Chowdhury use inflammatory language, they will be given befitting reply by the people of West Bengal," he added.
(PTI)
Sura said, "We'll go to every panchayat, every block in every district of Odisha to create mass awareness against this move of the central government to divide the country in the name of religion."
"India is a secular country. If we can accept Hindus, Christians, Buddhists, Jains from other countries, then we should accept Muslim refugees too."
"If India won't accept Muslim refugees then where will they go?" Sura further said.
Commenting on Center's proposal of updating the NPR, Sura said, "It's false propaganda like NRC. People won't accept it, and it will never be implemented."
However, Senior BJP leader and General Secretary of party's Odisha unit, Prithviraj Harichandan criticized the Congress party for hyperventilating over NPR and CAA.
Harichandan said, "We condemn the malicious intent of Congress party to mislead people against CAA and their evil designs to incite protests in the country. CAA is a provision to provide Indian citizenship to the minorities from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh who are victims of religious persecution. Muslims are neither minorities in those countries nor they are victims of religious persecution. So CAA doesn't include Muslims."
"We will reach out to more than 1 crore people in Odisha and educate them about CAA. We'll tell them that it's not at all a law of exclusion rather it is inclusive. So no Indian citizen should worry about being affected by CAA."
Speaking about NPR, Harichandan said, "The process of NPR started during the Congress regime. They didn't have the audacity to implement the same because of vote bank politics. If BJP is now implementing it, they shouldn't object to it."
Union Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, in an event at AIIMS in Bhubaneswar said, "Congress is misleading & inciting people over CAA. We will start a mass awareness campaign to reach out to 3 crore households in India and educate them about CAA"
The notices were issued on Tuesday after damage of nearly Rs 25 lakh was assessed across the district by the police and the administration, they said. Police had initially said that the damage incurred was worth around Rs 15 lakh but the final assessment put the figure at Rs 25 lakh, they added.
"Notices have been issued to 28 people who have been identified for violence during the protests. They have been given seven days' time to respond why action should not be taken against them, failing which, proceedings will be initiated to recover money from them for destruction of public and private property," District Magistrate Aunjaneya Singh told PTI.
A 22-year-old man died of a bullet injury here on Saturday during violent protests against the amended Citizenship Act. Several locals and policemen were injured, and six vehicles, including a police motorcycle, were torched, according to officials.
So far 33 people have been arrested and more than 150 identified in connection with the violence in Rampur, the police said.
Protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act had broken out in several districts of Uttar Pradesh on Thursday, leaving at least 17 people dead and moveable and immoveable assets damaged, mostly in arson.
Along with UP, several parts of the country have been witnessing protests against the amended Citizenship Act and the proposed implementation of a pan-India National Register of Citizens (NRC).
The Citizenship (Amendment) Act provides for grant of citizenship to persecuted minority Hindus, Sikhs, Christians, Jain, Buddhists and Parsis of Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh, who have taken refuge in India before December 31, 2014.
Critics say that leaving Muslims out of the ambit of the law is a violation of the Fundamental Right to Equality under Article 14 of the Constitution and is against the secular ethos of the country.
(PTI)
Top Congress leaders, including former prime minister Manmohan Singh, former party chief Rahul Gandhi and general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, participated in the 'Satyagraha'.
The party held that in line with the path of non-violence shown by Mahatma Gandhi, it will fight against the "dictatorial" government and to protect the "sacred" Constitution.
The Congress said there is widespread resentment against the recent actions of the BJP government, where people across the country, especially the youth, are demanding the restoration and maintaining the sanctity of rights guaranteed by the Constitution.
The party has also stood in support of the students protesting against the BJP government at the Centre and the use of "indiscriminate police force" against ordinary citizens in the name of maintaining law and order.
This, the party said, has led to further worsening and spiralling of the situation.
The Congress has said that it is committed to upholding the principles enshrined in the Constitution and fight for the continuation, maintenance and safeguard of the rights of all.
The party is up against the government for using "brute" force against "silent and peaceful" protesters across the country and for "stopping" people from holding demonstrations against the new citizenship law and the National Register of Citizens (NRC), proposed to be implemented across the country.
(PTI)
Patnaik's assertion assumes significance at a time when fingers were being raised at his secular credentials as his party backed the amended law in Parliament.
The CM, however, clarified that he was not in favour of nationwide NRC exercise.
Attending a programme at a city church, the CM said, "Remember that I am with all of you..."
Patnaik had on December 13 met a delegation of Muslim leaders and assured them that CAA would not affect the community.
"We were panicked over BJD's support to citizenship bill. But the community is relaxed after the chief minister announced that his party will not support NRC," Abdul Bari, a member of the Muslim delegation which met Patnaik, had said.
(PTI)