Protesting against the passage of Citizenship Bill, 2016 in the Lok Sabha, hundreds of students from Delhi University (DU) and Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) on Wednesday staged a silent protest demonstration at Jantar Mantar in the national capital.
The agitators have been demanding scrapping of the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016.
“We want scrapping of the Bill. This Bill is against the indigenous people of Assam and other northeastern States,” said Arpita Dutta, a student of Delhi University.
The agitating students, who hail from different States of the northeastern region, shouted against the controversial Citizenship Bill.
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The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016 seeks to grant citizenship to six minority communities including the Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Parsis, Buddhists and Christians from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan, who entered India due to religious persecution.
Though the Bill was passed in the Lok Sabha, it could not be tabled in the Rajya Sabha due to strong opposition from the members of the Upper House where the ruling Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) has no majority.
“In fact, we will initiate a movement so that the students’ fraternity from across India can come forward and support us in opposing the Bill,” said Prof Padmeswar Doley.
Displaying placards like ‘Scrap Citizenship (Amendment) Bill’, ‘Protect Assam’, the agitators staged the silent protest for three hours.