Protests galore in south as students join forces against CAA

Various educational campuses, including the prestigious Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Madras, the Indian Institute of Institute of Science (IISc) in Bengaluru, saw protests by the students against the police crackdown in Jamia Millia Islamia in Delhi on Sunday night and the controversial Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA).

Actor politician Kamal Haasan led Makkal Needhi Maiam said it has filed a public interest litigation in the Supreme Court on Monday seeking a stay on the new amendment which provides citizenship to the persecuted religious minorities from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan.

In a rare show of camaraderie, bitter political foes Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and Leader of Opposition in the assembly Ramesh Chennithala -- came together at a joint protest in the state capital and condemned the act with the former saying it was an attempt to "curb" freedom.

Addressing the protest, Vijayan said the country was facing an "explosive" atmosphere and the CAA was an attempt to stifle freedom attained through sacrifices.

Claiming that the amendment altered the basic structure of the Constitution and hence "unconstitutional", he said the new law has omitted those who have faced worse persecution in Sri Lanka and Myanmar.

"Article 14 provides equality to all citizens. When a law is against the fundamental rights, its unconstitutional...The government is silent about the Sri Lankan Tamils, thousands of Rohingyas.. Even the United Nations has come out openly against this law," Vijayan added.

Chennithala alleged the Sangh Parivar was "experimenting" with the agenda of Hitler in India and those opposing it were being threatened.

At the LDF-UDF joint protest, both the fronts attacked the BJP-led NDA, the RSS and the Sangh Parivar, alleging the amendment had been brought in as part of their agenda to divide the people and create allegedly a theocratic state.

Kerala also witnessed protests against CAA by various organisations and student and youth outfits who took out rallies. Trains were blocked at different places.

A group of Youth Congress workers waved black flags at Manipur Governor Nejma Hepatulla, who was on her way to the airport in Kochi to board a flight to Lakshadweep.

Kerala Governor Arif Mohammad Khan appealed to protesters to refrain from indulging in violence.

Besides IIT-M, students of educational institutions in Tamil Nadu, including the Loyola College in Chennai and the Central University of Tamil Nadu at Tiruvarur, held protest demonstrations.

Activists of Students Federation of India held agitations in Chennai, Madurai and Coimbatore railway stations and were removed by the police.

In Telangana, scores of students of various varsities, including the Maulana Azad National Urdu University, the University of Hyderabad (UoH) and the Osmania University, staged sit-in inside their campuses, holding placards.

The protesters also expressed solidarity with their Aligarh Muslim University counterparts and condemned police.

UoH students took out a march from the campus to the Gachibowli Stadium, holding placards and raising slogans against the Narendra Modi government and demanding that the CAA be rejected and the National Register of Citizen be boycotted.

In Puducherry, students of Pondicherry University, a centrally sponsored higher education institution, too held a protest demonstration after boycotting classes.

The CPI(M) held a protest demonstration in Chennai seeking revocation of the CAA in which its ideological sibling the CPI and leaders of alliance parties -- the DMK, Congress, MDMK, IUML and Manithaneya Makkal Katchi participated.

"Don't inject religion in citizenship law," "Don't deny citizenship to Srilankan Tamils," and "Let us reject the divisive CAA," are among the slogans that were raised at the protest.

MDMK chief Vaiko said the CAA should be trashed and alleged the BJP was implementing its agenda one by one like abrogation of Article 370 and now amendment to the Citizenship law and the Common Civil Code's implementation may be next.

"In total, they have shattered the Indian democracy's foundation. If the base is destroyed, the dome cannot stand,"

he told reporters adding the Centre was leading the country on the path of "destruction."

In Karnataka, protesters hit the streets in Bengaluru, Shivamogga, Ballari and Mysuru among other places opposing the CAA and held demonstrations, rallies and raised slogans.

In Mysuru, a bike rally was taken out with the participants holding placards and Indian flag and shouting Down Down BJP, We want justice and abolish CAA.

Police said prohibitory orders under CrPC section 144 have been clamped in the city.