Skip to main content

Poser to Gujarat CM: Why permit pro-CAA rally when anti-CAA rallies not allowed?

A poster at Sabarmati Ashram for rally in support of CAA
By A Representative
Taking strong objection to the Government of Gujarat permitting an organization called Citizens’ Committee to hold a rally in support of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), an Ahmedabad-based civil rights activist in a letter to chief minister Vijay Rupani has wondered why rallies to protest against CAA, which allegedly violates Articles 5, 14, 15 and 21 of the Constitution of India, are not being allowed.
Written by Mujahid Nafees of the Minority Coordination Committee (MCC), a citizens’ initiative to protect minority rights, the letter, a copy of which has been forwarded to chief secretary Anil Mukim, says that “the religion-based citizenship law” has been approved by “ignoring the Constitution.”
Insisting that the “Constitution is the result of the long struggle against the British”, the letter says, “The rallies against CAA were planned to honour the freedom movement martyrs” who had fought for India’s freedom, and also to “safeguard the fundamental element of the constitution”.
It adds, “Off-the-record even officials say they have been told from the very top not to allow protests against CAA, hence they had no other option but to disallow such protests.”
The letter wonders, as to why a rally in support of CAA by an organization called Citizens' Committee has been approved”, despite the fact that “Article 14 of our Constitution clearly upholds equality before the law and equal protection by law.”
Poster for rally in support of CAA, chairs put up for the rally
Nafees quotes the Constitution’s Article 14, which says, "Equality before law: The State shall not deny any person before equality before the law or equal protection under the laws of India's Prohibition of discrimination on grounds of religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth."
Objecting to allowing one set of people for take out a rally, while not allowing others, the letter asks Rupani to intervene in the matter and treat both the sets of people equally. “I am confident that you will rise above partisan politics in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution”, it adds.
Meanwhile, releasing photographs of the huge banners on the the main gate of Sabarmati Ashram, Ahmedabad, Mudita Vidrohi, a young Gandhian activist, says, "Huge posters along the wall of Ashram can be seen supporting CAA. Loudspeakers are there, chairs are there." 
She sarcastically adds, "First of all congratulations to the Ashram Trust for standing true to Gandhi's spirit, Gandhi must be smiling from wherever he may be. Please someone show me one example in the country where rally was given the permission to oppose CAA in this manner."
---
Pix: Mudita Vidrohi's Facebook timeline

Comments

Post a Comment

TRENDING

Swaminarayan, untouchability and the 'we are not Hindu' argument

By Rajiv Shah   Following my blog on why the Eiffel Tower authorities should take all the blame for giving in to the Swaminarayan sadhus ’ bizarre demand to “invisibilise” women, including its female staff, during their visit to the internationally renowned Paris tourist centre on September 5, an interesting comment by one of the top academics drew my attention to something I vaguely knew about one of India’s most powerful and richest religious sects.
Post a Comment
»

From margins to microphones: The rise of Dalit hip-hop in India

By Tersina Maria Toppo*  A protest does not always arrive as a slogan shouted from a street corner. Sometimes, it arrives on a beat. A microphone replaces the megaphone, a music video becomes a public square, and the smartphone becomes the space where a history once pushed to the margins is narrated, debated, and shared.
Post a Comment
»

Xi Jinping’s visit to USA: Recognition that China can't be contained?

By Vijay Prashad   President Xi Jinping’s forthcoming visit to the United States must be understood as more than an encounter between two heads of state, but it must be seen as an encounter between two possible futures. In one future, the United States imposes a spiral of confrontation against China. Trade disputes harden into economic warfare, then economic warfare intensifies into technological blockades, technological blockades produce military encirclement, and finally military encirclement creates incidents, and incidents the danger of becoming an unimaginable war.
Post a Comment
»