PONDA: Over five thousand protestors held a mega rally on Saturday in Ponda under the banner of “Goa Unity Forum” demanding immediate repealing of the “unjust and discriminatory” Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).
At the rally, the protestors vowed to continue their agitation till Prime Minister Narendra Modi announces in the Parliament the repealing of CAA.
Alleging that the RSS and BJP want to implement their hidden agenda and divide Hindus and Muslims on religious ground, the protestors appealed to all Indians not to fall prey for the divisive ideology of RSS.
Addressing the protestors, former IAS officer Arvind Bhatikar accused the BJP of destroying the Constitution of India by enacting laws like CAA. “It will destroy the future of India. We must uphold the Constitution of India. The present CAA is discriminatory and against the Constitution; it must be opposed tooth and nail. The United Nations has also said that this law is discriminatory,” he said.
Holding a copy of the Indian Constitution in hand, N Shivdas said, “Our constitution is the best Constitution in the world. We — Hindus, Muslims, Catholic and others — must unite under this Holy Book which treats us all equally. We must treat the Indian Constitution as Holy Book and uphold and protect it.”
He alleged that some communal minded people want to divide the country on religious lines for creating vote banks.
Valmiki Naik informed that when NRC was implemented in Assam, 14 lakh Hindus were found to be ineligible for citizenship, while only 5 lakh Muslims were ineligible for citizenship. “Nowhere the word persecuted is found in CAA,” he said.
Another speaker Muzzafar Sheikh said if the government wants CAA it should be based on DNA of Indians and not on religion. “The Muslims are indigenous people of this country and DNA should be the criteria for citizenship and not religion,” he said.
Ponda MLA Ravi Naik said, “People belonging to all religions fought for freedom struggle. Therefore, there is no place for communalism. Some people want to bring dictatorship in the country. CAA not only discriminates Muslims, but also STs and OBCs.”
Ravi said that not everyone in every religion will have documents to prove their citizenship. “Such people will be sent to detention centres,” he warned.
