Left parties announce 7-day nationwide protests from Jan 1 against CAA, NRC, NPR; strike on Jan 8

The Left parties on Thursday announced a seven-day nationwide protest from January 1 to 7 and a general strike on January 8 against the Citizenship Amendment Act, the National Population Register and the National Register of Citizens.

In a joint statement, the Communist Party of India (Marxist), the Communist Party of India, the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist)-Liberation, the All India Forward Bloc and the Revolutionary Socialist Party said the protest programme was announced in solidarity with the trade unions, which have also called a general strike on January 8.

"The Left parties extend support to all the kisan and agricultural workers' organisations and civil society movement that have called for a 'grameen bandh' on January 8.

"The Left parties call upon all their units and all the states of the country to organise powerful protest movements against the assault on the Indian Constitution through the CAA/NRC/NPR," the statement said.

The parties also strongly "condemn atrocities unleashed by the police on peaceful protests by civilians in BJP-ruled states", particularly in Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Gujarat, Tripura, as well as in Delhi, where the police force is directly under the Union Home Ministry.

The protests shall continue peacefully, the Left parties said.