Amid various controversies and protests surrounding the new Citizenship (Amendment) Act, Congress in Madhya Pradesh has decided to hold a rally in Bhopal against the new bill and the National Register of Citizens (NRC). Chief Minister Kamal Nath is expected to lead the rally which would start from Rang Mahal square and proceed towards Minto Hall.
Two days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi appeared to contradict Home Minister Amit Shah on the controversial subject at the core of protests across the nation, Mr Shah said there is no discussion on a nationwide National Register of Citizens right now. "There is no need to debate this (pan-India NRC) as there is no discussion on it right now, PM Modi was right, there is no discussion on it yet either in the Cabinet or Parliament," Amit Shah told news agency ANI on Tuesday.
On Sunday, PM Modi had said at a rally in Delhi that there was no talk of a nationwide rollout of the NRC. On Tuesday, nearly one lakh people took to the streets in Assam on Tuesday, the All Assam Students' Union has claimed; in what has been the biggest ever rally against the citizenship law.
Citizenship (Amendment) Act, which for the first time makes religion the test of citizenship in India. The government says it will help minorities from three Muslim-dominated countries to get citizenship if they fled to India because of religious persecution. Critics say it is designed to discriminate against Muslims and violates the secular principals of the constitution.
Here are the LIVE Updates on Citizenship Act protests:
Citizens' responsibility to take care of public property: PM Modi on Citizenship Law protestsThe Prime Minister asked the protesters to keep in mind that everybody in the country is entitled to a safe environment. "I want to ask people who resorted to violence in Uttar Pradesh to sit at home and ask themselves whether what they did is good or not. They destroyed buses and public property that belongs to their children," he said at the foundation-laying ceremony of the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Medical University in Lucknow.
Thousands turned out for the Congress's "Save the Constitution" march in Madhya Pradesh's Bhopal and raised slogans against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the National Register of Citizens (NRC) on Wednesday.
Criticising the Bharatiya Janata Party, Kamal Nath said that the BJP at the Centre has been raising issues and bringing up such legislature that would divert public attention from its failure on the administrative front.
"The peace march that we have taken out is not just for Bhopal or the state, it is for the nation. We want to send this message from the heart of the country on how the central government is trying to disintegrate the country.
"The question is not about what is written in these laws. The question is about what the government is trying to hide about them. The question is not what they will be used for. The question is about how these laws will be misused," Kamal Nath said.
"The Union Home Minister has said in Parliament that the NRC will be enforced in the entire country. Any law which is anti-Constitution, anti-national, anti-religion will not be enforced in Madhya Pradesh. The NRC and CAA have hidden political intents of the BJP. We have to protect the Constitution and culture of the country," the Chief Minister said, reported IANS.
