Guj: protest against Citizenship Act outside Sabarmati Ashram

Students, activists and others staged a peaceful protest against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and National Register of Citizens (NRC) outside the Sabarmati Ashram here on Tuesday.

Around 50 protesters stood outside the Ashram -- set up by Mahatma Gandhi in 1917 -- holding placards which read "India Rejects CAA", "Withdraw NRC and CAA", Stop Dividing India", "Stop Violence Against Minorities" and "Save Constitution".

Independent MLA and Dalit leader Jignesh Mevani was also present.

In a tweet, he alleged that the amended act and NRC were part of a plan of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah "to turn Muslims into Neo-untouchables".

"CAA and NRC are divisive as well as discriminatory," said Dev Desai, an activist who was among the protesters.

In Surat, around 20 activists associated with the Versatile Minority Forum organized a protest march and handed over a memorandum to Collector Dhaval Patel.

Through the memorandum, the Forum, led by advocate Babu Pathan, demanded withdrawal of NRC and CAA, claiming that they would kill the secular soul of India's Constitution and turn Muslims into second-class citizens.

"BJP was always against Muslims and minorities. To retain their vote-bank, the ruling party wants to implement NRC and CAA. These provisions would further divide the citizens on the basis of religion," Pathan said.

Protests have broken out in various parts of the country including Delhi against the amended act, which provides for grant of citizenship to non-Muslim minorities from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh.