New Delhi:
Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Friday slammed the "anti-poor" Narendra Modi government as she joined the students protesting against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act and a proposed countrywide National Register of Citizens at the India Gate. Priyanka, who is coming out to protest at India Gate for the second time in last week, said the government wants every Indian to stand in line to prove one's citizenship in the same manner they did after note ban.
Hundreds of people gathered at India Gate in Delhi to voice their dissent against the amended citizenship law and a proposed countrywide NRC. Raising slogans of 'Azaadi', 'No NRC, No CAA', the protesters, most of them college students, demanded that the new law be repealed.
At least six people were killed and 5 others sustained serious injuries during anti-Citizenship Act protests across BJP-ruled Uttar Pradesh on Friday, the police said. While two protesters were killed in Bijnore, one each died in Kanpur, Meerut, Sambhal and Firozabad after protests turned violent.
From Prime Minister Narendra Modi's parliamentary constituency Varanasi to UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's home turf Gorakhpur, violent protests rocked Uttar Pradesh against the contentious Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), that excludes Muslims while granting Indian citizenship to illegal migrants from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Meanwhile, Sporadic violence was reported from other parts of the country, including national capital Delhi, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka-Kerala border, where authorities resorted to lathi charge and tear gas shelling to disperse the protesters.
Mobile internet and SMS services were also curbed in various regions, including parts of UP, Karnataka and the national capital. Some groups, however, offered roses to the police to underline peaceful nature of their protest.
Congress chief Sonia Gandhi came out with a statement and said that the Modi government has shown "utter disregard for people's voices and used brute force to suppress dissent". She said the CAA was discriminatory and the proposed NRC will particularly hurt poor and vulnerable.
