Ex-Delhi LG Najeeb Jung questions Centre over not meeting anti-CAA protesters

Former lieutenant governor of Delhi Najeeb Jung on Monday questioned the Centre over not meeting the anti-CAA protesters and said erstwhile prime minister Manmohan Singh's government had met agitators when the Anna Hazare-led anti-corruption movement was going on.

Addressing protesters at Jamia Millia Islamia's gate no. 7, he said the government will have to hold discussions with students as they will run the country tomorrow.

Jamia's gate no. 7 has turned into a protest site after the police action against the university students on December 15 last year, with protesters sitting there 24x7.

Jung, also the former Jamia vice chancellor, condemned the police action in the university, besides in Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) and Aligarh Muslim University (AMU).

"We still do not know who (all) were involved in it... Such incidents are very shameful for any democracy and the national capital," he said, referring to the January 5 violence on the JNU campus, when a masked mob entered the university and beat up students and teachers with rods and sledgehammers.

Jung said the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) needs to be revamped and it should be made inclusive.

"When the common man's agitation was going on, the Manmohan Singh-led government had met Arvind Kejriwal and his associates.

"There is a revolution happening at every nook and corner... You (government) will have to discuss with these students. They will run the country," he said.

Jung lauded students and "sisters of Shaheen Bagh" for continuing their agitation against the CAA, saying the protest is not by Muslims alone, but by the entire country.

"This Act was brought to segregate us but it has united everyone... This is the time for sacrifice and there are chances that you might have to offer some sacrifices.

"But promise me that this movement will go on," he said.

In the middle of his speech, Jung read out the Preamble of the Constitution. He concluded his speech by singing the national anthem.

According to the CAA, members of Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi and Christian communities who have come from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan till December 31, 2014, to escape religious persecution there will not be treated as illegal immigrants but given Indian citizenship.

It does not include Muslims.

Those opposing the CAA contend that it discriminates on the basis of religion and violates the Constitution. They also allege that the CAA along with the NRC is intended to target the Muslim community in India.

However, the central government has dismissed the allegations, maintaining that the law is intended to give citizenship to the persecuted people from the three neighbouring countries and not to take away citizenship from anyone.