Hyderabad: ‘Govt needs to provide statistics’

Hyderabad: Demanding statistics from the Indian government to validate its stand on the Citizenship Amendment Act, youngsters and IT professionals at a ‘people’s assembly’ in the city wanted the actual numbers.

A discussion on why we need the CAA had been organised where both pro and anti CAA voices could be heard so as to give more clarity on what exactly the Act was about.

The mainly young participants raised issues such as why the government was always willing to discuss terrorism and Pakistan, but not the economy. “Why are we worried about 20 crore population of Pakistan and not interested in our population where so many issues require attention?” asked some of the young people.

Another one quipped, “Pakistan is a backward country and the kind of importance that we are giving to them makes us downgrade ourselves. Is it worth it?”

The students were well aware of the protests across the country and were up to date on events across the country. They were also aware of which were the states ruled by the BJP and which were not. A student had tabulated incidents that have occurred in BJP ruled states vis-a-vis those in non-BJP ruled states.
Many students said that when demonetisation happened we did not protest, when Article 370 was revoked we were quiet, but now it is the issue of our nationality and we cannot keep quiet.

The pro-CAA group argued that the fears are misplaced as no Indian Muslim will be asked to go from the country. They stated that the government has time and again come out with statements that no Indian Muslims would be harmed.

But there were very few takers for this argument.

Those who were impartial and wanted to know the nitty-gritty of the Act were told that the guidelines were yet to be issued and till then the real picture would not be clear.

S. Charan, a data scientist who took part in the discussion, said, “After the Act was passed in Parliament, the manner in which protestors are being targeted is cause for alarm. Technology is now being used to identify and persecute them. Facial recognition technology is a cause for concern. Does the government have the right to implement it? Where are we going? Do we need to do this against our own people? These are serious issues and it is making many of us worried and concerned.”

Priya Dagia, a participant, said, “In the present scenario we have to revive the dying economy and do not need these unnecessary Acts. What we require is statistics of the economy and not of the people of this country.”