Amidst the uproar and the extreme violence being discharged in the name of dissent against the Citizenship Amendment Act, more and more people have now started coming up in support of the Act. A group of 1100 academicians, intellectuals, and research scholars issued a statement in support of the recently passed Act, stating that any opposition to the act is not in the best interest of the country.
https://twitter.com/PTI_News/status/1208297367583121408?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
The list mainly comprises of professors, associate professors and assistant professors from dozens of colleges and universities in Indian and abroad, research scholars from within the country and abroad, scientists and scholars associated with institutes like AIIMS, IITs and IIMs, law students and practitioners.
The statement which is duly signed by such distinguished academicians including names like Dr Anand Ranganathan, a faculty in Jawaharlal Nehru University, Kanchan Gupta- Senior Journalist, Abhijit Iyer-Mitra, J Sai Deepak- Advocate, Supreme Court etc. states that: we a group of academicians, intellectuals, and research scholars are issuing this statement in our personal capacity in support of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) 2019.
The statement further adds, “The Act fulfils the long-standing demand of providing refuge and citizenship to persecuted religious minorities from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan. Ever since the failure of Liaquat-Nehru pact of 1950, various leaders and parties like the Congress, CPI (M) etc cutting across the ideological spectrum have demanded the grant of refuge and citizenship to religious minorities from Pakistan and Bangladesh who mostly belong to the Dalit castes.”
“We congratulate the Indian parliament and government for standing up for the minority rights in keeping with the civilizational ethos of India, providing a haven to those fleeing religious persecution from across the world,” the statement signed by over 1100 academicians, intellectuals and research scholars read.
We also note with satisfaction that the concern of the North-Eastern states has been heard and are being addressed appropriately.
“We believe that CAA is in perfect synchronization with the secular Constitution of India as it does not prevent any religious denomination from any country, seeking citizenship of India. Nor does it change the criteria of existing citizenship in Indian in any way. CAA only seeks to provide a special expediated redress, under special circumstances to minorities fleeing religious persecution from three specific countries i.e. Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan while in no way excluding Ahmadis, Hazaras and other denominates and ethnicities, from seeking Indian citizenship through regular processes”, it read.
While castigating the violence in the name of CAA, the statement read that we also note with deep anguish, that an atmosphere of fear and paranoia is being built in the country through deliberate obfuscation, propaganda and fear-mongering leading to violence in several parts of the country most notably in Bengal.
“We also appeal to every section of the society to exercise restraint and refuse to fall in the trap of communalism and anarchism”, it read.
Yesterday, around 5000 people gathered the Central Park in Connaught Place and raised thundering slogans in support of the Citizenship Amendment Act. Apart from these, students of Delhi University had also on December 18 come out to extend their support for the Citizenship Bill.
Moreover, Alumni at Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIMA), had also launched a campaign in support of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and National Register of Citizens (NRC). Earlier, the IIT Bombay students had also come out in support of the CAA.