BJP national working president JP Nadda today kicked off a massive rally in Kolkata in support of the Citizenship Amendment Act. JP Nadda was accompanied by senior BJP leaders, including West Bengal BJP president Dilip Ghosh and national general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya. The issue of CAA has been a major flashpoint in Bengal politics, with Chief Minister and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee declaring that it will not be implemented in the state.
Meanwhile, the Congress is holding a protest against the Centre's new citizenship law, agitation against which is sweeping the country. The protest meet was held at Rajghat, the memorial of Mahatma Gandhi. Senior party leader Rahul Gandhi, who had been abroad since the protests over the new law escalated last Sunday, attended the meet along with party chief Sonia Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi, Manmohan Singh, among other leaders.
More than 20 people have died in the protests against the new law since it was signed by President Ram Nath Kovind on December 11. Fifteen of the deaths have taken place in Uttar Pradesh, five in Assam and two in Mangaluru.
The protests had escalated last Sunday with a police crackdown on the students of Delhi's Jamia Millia Islamia after their protest march ended in violence.
