Student unions launch petition against CAA

Hyderabad: “In a democracy, people elect their government. With the CAA-NPR-NRC package, the Modi government is empowering itself to ‘select’ the people and voters of their choice and reject the others,” said  youth representatives from ‘Young India’, an umbrella group of  more than 100 student organisations from across the country.

The group on Saturday launched a petition on which signatures would be collected while they campaign against the CAA.

They said the combination of the CAA, the NRC and the NPR puts the poor, migrant workers, tribals and minorities at the mercy of corrupt and communal government officials who can declare people ‘doubtful’ citizens, strip them of voting rights and send them to detention camps, said the student representatives.

Mr N. Sai Balaji, former president of the Jawaharlal Nehru Students Union (JNUSU), who was at the meeting, said, “Non-Muslims who may not have the prescribed documents to prove their ancestry will be first made to declare themselves as ‘refugees’. They may then regain their citizenship under the CAA, if they prove they are ‘refugees’ from Pakistan, Bangladesh or Afghanistan.”

“People have been out on the streets to protest against the attack on their citizenship and to defend the Constitution. We don’t understand why the government is not understanding,” a student said.

On January 20, the students proposed to take out a rally from the Ambedkar statue at Tank Bund to Dharna Chowk, Indira Park.