New Delhi: Congress interim chief Sonia Gandhi Saturday slammed police excesses and brutal use of force in Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and other BJP ruled states during the protest against Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), National Register of Citizens (NRC) and National Population Register (NPR).
Stating that the Congress Working Committee (CWC) must categorically declare that millions of Congress workers will stand shoulder to shoulder with the people of India in their struggle for equality, justice and dignity, she said the situation in some states was alarming and they, like UP and Delhi, were being turned into police states.
"We are appalled by the police excesses and use of brute force in many towns of UP, in Jamia Millia Islamia, in the Jawaharlal Nehru University, the Banaras Hindu University, the Allahabad University, the Delhi University, the Gujarat University, the Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru," Gandhi said.
Taking on the central government, Congress interim chief Sonia Gandhi Saturday said the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) was discriminatory and divisive, and demanded enquiry into the police excesses on anti-CAA agitators.
"A comprehensive high-powered commission should be set up to enquire into incidents connected with the CAA protests and provide justice to the affected people", Sonia Gandhi said.
"The sinister purpose of the law is clear to every patriotic, tolerant and secular Indian. It's to divide the Indians on religious lines. Thousands of young men and women, especially students, have realised the grave harm the CAA will cause", she said.
Praising protesters, Gandhi said they had taken to the streets braving the cold as well as the police brutalities.
"I salute their courage, abiding faith in values of the Constitution, and determination to defend and protect those values. We are inspired by their struggle," the Congress leader said.
In the last month there have been 261 protests on CAA in the country. 230 of these were against the unconstitutional Act, but the BJP govt has paid no heed to the people of India. "Their only response was to use violence", the Congress Working Committee said.
"A concerted attack on Constitution, rampant unemployment, commercialization of education, unprecedented fee hikes and autocratic refusal to listen to voice and concerns of youth-students have led to spontaneous protests across the colleges and university campuses", Congress Secretary and MP, KC Venugopal, said while addressing the CWC.
"Almost every institution in the country- from Delhi University, JNU, Jamia Millia University, Banaras Hindu University, Allahabad University, AMU, and many others have seen massive protests. Hence, a designed conspiracy has been unleashed to attack the centres of creative and independent thinking i.e. colleges and universities", he added.
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