Demand immediate repeal of the communal and divisive Citizenship Amendment Act!
Statement of the Central Committee of the Communist Ghadar Party of India,
December 17, 2019
The Communist Ghadar Party strongly condemns the barbaric police attack on students of Jamia Millia Islamia University, Delhi, Aligarh Muslim University and other campuses across the country. These students had been protesting peacefully demanding withdrawal of the Citizenship Amendment Act, which has been passed by the Narendra Modi government on December 11, in the face of massive opposition of people across the country.
On December 15, when the students of Jamia Millia Islamia University in Delhi were protesting at the gate of their campus, the police forced their way into the campus without the permission of the University authorities. The police lobbed tear gas shells at the students. They entered the students’ hostels, mercilessly beat up students with lathis and destroyed hostel property. Women students were attacked, molested, terrorized and humiliated. Several students suffered critical injuries and had to be admitted into hospitals. Scores of students were arrested and sent to the police lock-up. The staff who tried to come to the aid of the students were also mercilessly beaten up. Students who had taken shelter inside the Masjid located within the campus were attacked and the Masjid vandalized. Even the Imam of the Masjid was not spared.
The Vice Chancellor and Chief Proctor of Jamia Millia Islamia University, have condemned the police action.
The Central Government and the police forces have been carrying out lying propaganda that the students indulged in violence during their protests on the streets. There is ample evidence that the police organized goondas to set fire to buses, in order to discredit the just protest of the students and justify the violence against them.
By savagely attacking students, and trying to discredit their struggle, the Central government is trying to crush all resistance to the Citizenship Amendment Act by brute force.
People from all communities and all sections of society came out to help the victimized students, offering their homes for shelter, giving first aid and taking the wounded to the hospital, offering legal help to release the students from police custody, etc. Students of Delhi University, IIT Delhi and Jawaharlal Nehru University have come out in support of the students of Jamia Millia Islamia University. On the night of Sunday December 15, thousands of students from all the universities in and around Delhi as well as activists of different political parties and mass organizations gathered in massive show of protest at the police headquarters, to condemn the police brutality on the students. Protest actions have been held in various campuses such as IIT Mumbai, Hyderabad Central University, and Banaras Hindu University. Students of all the Law Universities have condemned the barbaric police action.
The Communist Ghadar Party of India stands firmly in support of the students of Jamia Millia Islamia University and all those who are being attacked for demanding the immediate repeal of the blatantly communal and divisive Citizenship Amendment Act.
The Citizenship Amendment Act is a vicious attack on the unity and solidarity of our people. The Act promises to grant citizenship rights to Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians who came to India from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh before December 31, 2014. It denies this to Muslims. It blatantly discriminates between Muslims and non-Muslims in granting citizenship. It is an attack on all our people.
The Citizenship Amendment Act combined with the proposed National Register of Citizens (NRC) to be carried out all over the country, are aimed at targeting the Muslim community and smashing the unity of our people. The NRC is aimed at identifying “infiltrators” — that is people who do not have documents to prove their Indian citizenship. It is a fact that large numbers of poor do not have such documents. Protest actions against the Citizenship Amendment Act have been reported from Mumbai, Aligarh, Lucknow, Bangalore, Yavatmal, Kochi, Aurangabad, Goa, Muzzafarnagar, Kanpur, Amravati, Mallapuram, Surat, Deoband, Kozhikode, Azamgarh, Gulbarga, Bhopal, Solapur, Nagpur, Hyderabad, Araria, Pratapgarh, Jaunpur, and other cities.
India has always belonged to all the people who came here and made it their home, irrespective of their religious beliefs, irrespective of the language they speak. It is home to everyone who belongs to this subcontinent.
It is unacceptable that people who have lived in India for generations are suddenly declared to be non-citizens, criminalised, denied their human rights, treated as stateless people, and forced to live in detention camps, as is being done by the government. It is unacceptable that people should be granted or denied citizenship rights on the basis of their religion.
The Citizenship Amendment Act and the proposed National Register for Citizens are thoroughly regressive, communal and divisive, aimed at smashing the unity of our people.
The Communist Ghadar Party of India calls upon all the Indian people, irrespective of their religious beliefs, to demand that the government should immediately repeal the Citizenship Amendment Act.