Crackdown on students protesting against CAA slap on face of democracy: Kamal Haasan

The crackdown on student protesters raising their voice against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019, is a slap on the face of democracy, Makkal Needhi Maiam leader Kamal Haasan said on Tuesday, two days after violent protests in the Jamia Nagar Area of Delhi left several students and cops injured.

Responding to a question on the student protests against the CAA, Haasan, at a press conference here, said, "There is nothing wrong with young people being politically aware and asking questions (but) when these questions are stifled, then democracy is in dangerous ICU."

Haasan called the CAA a "national issue" which remains "beyond state borders, politics or parties."

The actor-politician hit out at the ruling All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) over its support to the CAA. "AIADMK's support is a betrayal to Tamil Nadu and the Tamils."

Several students and police personnel had sustained injuries in a protest in New Delhi on Sunday.

The protesters had set DTC buses on fire near the Bharat Nagar area after demonstrations turned violent. They also vandalised a fire tender that was sent to douse the fire, injuring two firemen inside the vehicle.

The CAA seeks to grant Indian citizenship to refugees from Hindu, Christian, Sikh, Buddhist and Parsi communities fleeing religious persecution from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh, and who entered India on or before December 31, 2014.