Bhubaneswar: Even as the country continues to witness large-scale protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), hundreds of protesters took to the streets here opposing the Union government’s move.
Protesters stood in front of the ‘I love Bhubaneswar’ sign at Master Canteen Square and raised slogans against the implementation of Citizenship Amendment Act and National Register of Citizens (NRC). Amidst chants of ‘Azaadi’, young and elderly alike came together to protest against what they called a discriminatory and unconstitutional law.
“We are protesting for a cause. This is a clear strategy to carry out an ethnic cleansing and wipe out the minorities in India. This law is anti-Muslim. We want the Supreme Court to act on it and want the CAA revoked,” said Pratishruti, a city-based student.
Myriads of posters with slogans like ‘Modi Hatao Desh Bachao’, ‘We reject CAB-NRC’ and ‘Secularism is no more’ were seen at the dharna sthal. The protesters showed solidarity with students of several universities like Jamia Milia Islamia, Delhi University and Aligarh Muslim University. They also condemned police brutality against the students and demanded freedom from fascism, Islamophobia and divided and rule policy of the government.
“As the youths of this country, it is our responsibility to take a stand on this. This is coming from a personal agenda of the government that it is trying to implement. But when the government does something wrong, it is the duty of the citizens to force them to set it right. Because, the Preamble of the Indian Constitution itself starts with ‘We the people’,” said Shweta, another student.
“The act violates Article 14 of the constitution. We are the people of Odisha and we carry the blood of the Paikas. So we must resist this,” asserted Vivek, a protesting youth.
In the evening, there was another protest was staged at Lower PMG which saw around 100 people raising slogans and reading the Preamble to show solidarity with the people across the country protesting against CAA and NRC. Protesters stood around a coffin which was representative of the death of the Constitution. The protest was followed by a candlelight procession.
Earlier, outfits like All India Democratic Students’ Organisation (AIDSO), AIMSS, AIDYO, CPI, CPM, Forward Bloc, CPI(ML)-Liberation staged demonstration at Lower PMG over the issue.
