Shahi Imam of Delhi's Jama Masjid, Syed Ahmed Bukhari, on Wednesday sought to allay apprehensions about the Citizenship Amendment Act in India. He said it has “nothing to do with Muslims living in the country”. “The CAA is for those people who came to India from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh before December 31, 2014. They will be granted citizenship and it will not affect the Muslims living in India. The Muslim refugees who came to India from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh will not get Indian citizenship. It has nothing to do with the Muslims living in India," he said, reported ANI, adding that the NRC or National Register of Citizens "has not become a law" yet.
Protests had rocked the country after the Citizenship law was passed by both houses of the Parliament. The Jamia Millia Islamia university had turned into a battlefield over the past three days as police entered the campus, using force, following protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) which devolved into violence and arson. In response, several protests—some peaceful, some violent—erupted across India against the Jamia crackdown and the controversial citizenship law, as students and political leaders took to the streets. Prime Minister Narendra Modi called these protests "deeply distressing" and appealed for peace. The lines between anger at the police action against Jamia students and the protests over the Citizenship Amendment Act, which will grant citizenship to non-Muslim refugees from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh, blurred into a unison of protests—from Uttar Pradesh to Kerala, and Maharashtra to West Bengal.
On Monday, thousands of students took to the streets in the national capital on Monday against the police crackdown. Fifty detained students of Jamia were released even as the situation in the campus remained tense with scores of hostel students leaving for home. Several students of Delhi University boycotted exams and held protest outside the Arts Faculty in North Campus even as a large number of police personnel were deployed by authorities to prevent any flare up. Braving freezing cold, agitated students, some of them shirtless, protested outside the gates of JMI university. Slogans of 'Inquilab Zindabad' rent the air as the students took out a march, demanding a CBI inquiry into the alleged "police brutality". Slogans of "Delhi Police down down" and Tanashahi nahi chalegi were being raised. Police had put up barricades to prevent students from reaching the Amar Jawan Jyoti where a Preamble reading event was scheduled.Shahi Imam of Delhi's Jama Masjid, Syed Ahmed Bukhari, on Wednesday sought to allay apprehensions about the Citizenship Amendment Act in India. He said it has “nothing to do with Muslims living in the country”. “The CAA is for those people who came to India from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh before December 31, 2014. They will be granted citizenship and it will not affect the Muslims living in India. The Muslim refugees who came to India from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh will not get Indian citizenship. It has nothing to do with the Muslims living in India," he said, reported ANI, adding that the NRC or National Register of Citizens "has not become a law" yet.
Protests had rocked the country after the Citizenship law was passed by both houses of the Parliament. The Jamia Millia Islamia university had turned into a battlefield over the past three days as police entered the campus, using force, following protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) which devolved into violence and arson. In response, several protests—some peaceful, some violent—erupted across India against the Jamia crackdown and the controversial citizenship law, as students and political leaders took to the streets. Prime Minister Narendra Modi called these protests "deeply distressing" and appealed for peace. The lines between anger at the police action against Jamia students and the protests over the Citizenship Amendment Act, which will grant citizenship to non-Muslim refugees from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh, blurred into a unison of protests—from Uttar Pradesh to Kerala, and Maharashtra to West Bengal.
On Monday, thousands of students took to the streets in the national capital on Monday against the police crackdown. Fifty detained students of Jamia were released even as the situation in the campus remained tense with scores of hostel students leaving for home. Several students of Delhi University boycotted exams and held protest outside the Arts Faculty in North Campus even as a large number of police personnel were deployed by authorities to prevent any flare up. Braving freezing cold, agitated students, some of them shirtless, protested outside the gates of JMI university. Slogans of 'Inquilab Zindabad' rent the air as the students took out a march, demanding a CBI inquiry into the alleged "police brutality". Slogans of "Delhi Police down down" and Tanashahi nahi chalegi were being raised. Police had put up barricades to prevent students from reaching the Amar Jawan Jyoti where a Preamble reading event was scheduled.
