Candle Light Vigil against Citizenship Amendment Bill
14th December, 2019
Candle Light Vigil against Citizenship Amendment Bill
NEFIS ORGANIZES CANDLE LIGHT VIGIL AND PROTEST DEMONSTRATION AGAINST CITIZENSHIP AMENDMENT BILL ACROSS THE COUNTRY!
CONDEMNS DIVISION OF PEOPLE ON THE BASIS OF RELIGIOUS IDENTITY!
PERSECUTED MINORITIES OF SRI LANKA, MYANMAR OF NO CONCERN FOR COMMUNAL BJP!
North-East Forum for International Solidarity (NEFIS) today organized Candle Light Vigils and Protest Demonstrations across the country as part of an All India Call given by it. Apart from Delhi University North Campus and many other places, the NEFIS units at Manipur and Chandigarh organized Vigils and Protests at Manipur University and Panjab University campuses respectively.
Progressive organizations and students from different parts of the country also joined the protest demonstration. NEFIS condemns the brutal violence which was unleashed by the state governments in Assam, Tripura and other places in India aimed at people who came out against the bill. The bill, it should be noted, permits the minorities of Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan to become citizens of India.
The communal angle here is starkly evident from the fact that the minorities from only three countries have been given space in the current bill, while the minorities from other neighbouring countries have been consciously kept out of the scope of the bill.
Candle Light Vigil against Citizenship Amendment Bill
The proposed bill is premised on the religious persecution of non-Muslim minorities in neighbouring Muslim majority countries, and deliberately elides the question of providing asylum to persecuted minorities of other countries.
It should be noted that the minorities in Sri Lanka and Myanmar too have faced persecution in the recent past. Exhibiting its entirely communal stance, the BJP government has refused to grant even asylum to the Rohingyas because it sees them as unwanted illegal immigrants.
The Rohingya people of Myanmar, it should be known, have been victims of state-sponsored genocide. To escape the persecution, the community had to migrate to the neighbouring India and Bangladesh, but the BJP Government has sought to drive the Rohingyas back to Myanmar. Clearly, the ‘illegal’ persecuted immigrants of particular communities are of no concern for the communal BJP government.
Candle Light Vigil against Citizenship Amendment Bill
NEFIS condemns the Citizenship Amendment Bill which has been conceived with a conscious communal intent. It stands for granting asylum to persecuted immigrant people which is also constitutionally mandated.
NEFIS is of the opinion that the in order to forestall the misapprehensions of the various states especially North-East states where the persecuted immigrants from neighbouring countries have sought asylum, the government should bring in a quota system to distribute them in different states across the country.
Candle Light Vigil against Citizenship Amendment Bill
It also terms the bill unconstitutional as it brazenly violates the provisions of Indian constitution especially protection from discrimination based on religious identity.
NEFIS demands that there should be wider consultation among the people and referendum conducted, before any such bill is tabled in the Parliament. NEFIS has been part of various campaigns and protests against CAB and it would be scaling up its campaign against the bill in the coming days.
Candle Light Vigil against Citizenship Amendment Bill
Thokchom Yaiphalembi Chanu
Member
Delhi Unit
North-East Forum for International Solidarity (NEFIS)
* This Press Release was sent to e-pao.net by NEFIS who can be contacted at nefis(DOT)delhi(AT)gmail(DOT)com
This Press Release was posted on December 15 2019
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