Left Front-Congress Take Out Joint Rally Against CAA And NRC In Kolkata

Protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act and the National Register of Citizens escalated in Kolkata, with the Left Front and the Congress taking out a joint rally on Friday. The protest comes on a day when West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee said there will not be any detention centre in the state as long as she was alive. She said no one can snatch away our rights like citizenship. Earlier, on Thursday, Banerjee had warned the BJP against 'playing with fire' asserting that peaceful protests will continue as long as the new citizenship law is not withdrawn.

The Left parties on Thursday announced a seven-day nationwide protest from January 1 to 7 and a general strike on January 8 against the CAA, the National Population Register and the NRC.

In a joint statement, the Communist Party of India (Marxist), the Communist Party of India, the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist)-Liberation, the All India Forward Bloc and the Revolutionary Socialist Party said the protest programme was announced in solidarity with the trade unions, which have also called a general strike on January 8.

"The Left parties extend support to all the kisan and agricultural workers' organisations and civil society movement that have called for a 'grameen bandh' on January 8.

"The Left parties call upon all their units and all the states of the country to organise powerful protest movements against the assault on the Indian Constitution through the CAA/NRC/NPR," the statement said.