Team Herald
VASCO: Against the backdrop of rallies across the country against the controversial Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), around 2,000 people protested against the Act on Friday afternoon in front of the Mormugao Municipal Council (MMC) building.
The peaceful protest saw attendees holding banners, shout slogans and wearing black ribbons on their arms.
They claimed that CAA is divisive in nature, unconstitutional. Elaborating further, Nazir Khan, NCP minority president said that they are not only opposing CAA tooth and nail but are also creating awareness about it.
“This Act was brought into the picture, just to divert the attention of the citizens from the failures of the government such as rise in unemployment, lower GDP, demonetisation etc. I feel the government has brought this and the National Register of Citizens (NRC) just to divide the people,” he added.
Another person who was protesting, Sabina Bhati, said that CAA is against Article 15 and is discriminatory.
“The identity of ‘Bharat’ is about unity in diversity wherein people of various communities stay together in this country in harmony. However, the major issues faced by the public have been sidelined, whereas NRC, CAA has been brought into the public domain, which will divide people on religious grounds. This is not good,” she added
Another protestor, Niyazi Sheikh concurred and spoke about how CAA allows only six religions, while keeping out Muslims.
Police force was also deployed at the site to maintain law and order. Vasco PI Nilesh Rane and Mormugao PI Pravin Pawar were also present at the site to maintain the peaceful atmosphere.
