IIM-Bangalore students to continue anti-CAA protests

"We will gather from 12.30 p.m. (January 25) to 12.30 a.m. (January 26) at the parking lot outside the main gate. At the same spot where we held the vigil," read an e-mail to the students with the subject line '70 years of we the people'.

The management students will read the Preamble of the Constitution of India and select writings of Mahatma Gandhi and the architect of the Constitution, B.R. Ambedkar.

The students will also sing the national anthem and other songs, the mail mentioned.

Meanwhile, M.S. Narasimhan, dean (administration), replied to the mail that he is not interested in participating in the anti-CAA protest.

"I feel there are alternatives available in a democracy to voice our views on those issues where we disagree before opting protest and demonstration," said Narasimhan, clarifying that this is his personal view.

However, he said that he equally shares a few concerns that were raised by many related to the CAA, National Register of Citizens (NRC) and the National Population Register (NPR), as he sees some merit in some of them.

"I don't want to participate in the protest unless I try and exhaust those alternatives. This response is because I received the invitation to participate in the protest, " said the finance and accounting professor.

Interestingly, protests, demonstrations and statements emanating from the Institute on myriad issues playing out in the country do not always represent one united IIM-B voice.

There are students and faculty members who favour, oppose or just sit quiet and remain neutral with regard to the CAA and other issues.

For the past few months, a section of the premier management school's students and faculty members have been actively protesting the CAA.

The CAA offers citizenship to persecuted minorities such as Hindus, Sikhs, Zoroastrians, Christians, Jains and Buddhists from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan, excluding all kinds of oppressed Muslim minorities such as Shias and Ahmediyas and others.

Earlier, the IIM-B students wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi not to trample democratic rights, stood in support of Jamia Millia Islamia University, Aligarh Muslim University, Jawaharlal Nehru University students and demanded a fresh inquiry into the death of Jharkhand mob lynching victim Tabrez Ahmed.