BackCAA protests enter third week amid a clampdown
Protests peaceful across nation, UP authorities suspend mobile internet in 21 districtsUP authorities said the internet ban was aimed at curbing ‘rumour mongering’ on social media
PremiumNEW DELHI : Large numbers protested peacefully against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) after Friday prayers in Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Mumbai, even as the police imposed a massive security and communications clampdown.
As the protests entered the third week, authorities in Uttar Pradesh suspended mobile internet across 21 districts, saying the move was aimed at curbing “rumour mongering" on social media.
“Friday prayers passed off peacefully in Uttar Pradesh amid tight security arrangements put in place after last week’s violence by anti-citizenship law protestors," Uttar Pradesh director general of police O.P Singh said.
While students and activists held demonstrations in Mumbai against CAA and the National Register of Citizens (NRC), hundreds of protestors gathered outside the Jama Masjid in Old Delhi to protest the Act.
Congress leader Alka Lamba and former Delhi legislator Shoaib Iqbal joined the agitation. Outside the Uttar Pradesh Bhawan in Delhi, police detained protestors who had gathered in defiance of prohibitory orders.
Meanwhile, Union home minister Amit Shah stepped up the heat on the Congress for “failing to secure the country".
“In this country every person of the minority community must be safe and it is our constitutional duty. But this did not happen in Bangladesh and Pakistan. On the basis of religion, people were persecuted. They came here in lakhs and urged us to give them citizenship because they had nowhere to go. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had the courage to grant them that and the Citizenship Amendment Act was passed," Shah told a public meeting in Shimla, Himachal Pradesh
Shah also accused “Congress and company" for spreading rumours that “Muslims will lose citizenship".
“I challenge (Congress leader) Rahul Gandhi to point out one place in this whole act which says that a person will lose his or her citizenship. Do not mislead people and break the peace in this nation," Shah added.
However, Congress party general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra took a dig at the home minister, days after Shah’s “understand the chronology" phrase in the wake of the passage of CAA.
“Understand the chronology... First they will promise you two crore jobs. Then they will form government. Then they will ruin your universities. Then they will destroy the country’s Constitution. Then you will protest. Then they will call you a ‘fool’ but youngistan will not budge," she wrote on Twitter. The attack comes as protests continue across the country over CAA. While students have clashed with police across the country, mobile internet restrictions continued across Uttar Pradesh on Friday, with the police conducting flag marches to deter protestors.
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