MAPUSA: Parish Priest of Calangute Fr Polly Lobo appealed to the people of Calangute to come out in huge number for the anti- Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) protest at Azad Maidan on Friday, February 21. The Social Action cell of Calangute Parish had organized an awareness programme on Wednesday, which was attended in large numbers. During the programme, Adv Sonia Pereira explained the meaning of CAA, National Register of Citizens (NRC) and National Population Register (NPR) and how they are threats to constitutional rights. She further briefed the locals about the national protests against CAA, especially those carried out by students and how the BJP-led government is trying to manipulate the narratives. She further pointed out that there is no citizenship in the world, which has religion as a criterion. She referred to the situation in Assam and spoke about how when NRC was released in 2019, 19 lakh people from Assam had to file an appeal before the foreigner tribunal since their citizenship was questioned and that they are now in detention camps , which has hundreds of people living in them trying to prove their citizenship.
“The Citizenship Amendment Act is against the constitution of India,” she added.
Pertaining to Goa, Advocate Sonia Pereira informed that CAA contains a provision that allows the government to cancel a person’s OCI (Overseas Citizen of India) for violating any law in force in India.
Adv Pereira further appealed to the people to voice their opposition against CAA as numbers make a huge difference.
Fr Lobo also informed the people about the meeting being organized on Friday and appealed that more and more people should remain present for the same.
