Left parties appeal to RJD to advance 'Bihar bandh' to Dec 19

The Left parties on Saturday appealed to RJD to advance its 'Bihar bandh' by two days to December 19 to combine it with their proposed nationwide joint protest against the amended Citizenship Act on that day.

Lalu Prasad's Rashtriya Janata Dal has given call for a Bihar bandh on December 21 to protest against the legislation, alleging that it has blown the Constitution to smithereens.

The Communist Party of India, Communist Party of India (Marxist), Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist)- Liberation, All India Forward Bloc and the Revolutionary Socialist Party, in a joint statement, alleged that the Act would destroy the secular democratic foundations of India.

"The Left parties appeal to RJD to advance its Bihar bandh to December 19 as we will organise a joint nationwide protest against the amended Citizenship Act and the National Register of Citizens (NRC) on that day," Bihar CPI state secretary Satya Narain Singh said in the statement.

CPI(ML)'s politburo member Dhirendra Jha, CPI(M) cental committee member Arun Mishra, AIFB's Amerika Mahto and RSP's Virendra Thakur are the other signatories to the statement.

The Left parties held a joint meeting at CPI office in the city on Friday.

December 19 has been chosen as the day of the protest as three freedom fighters -Ram Prasad Bismil, Ashfaqullah Khan and Roshan Singh -were hanged by the British on this day in 1927, the Left parties said.

Tejashwi Yadav, Prasad's younger son and heir apparent, made the announcement late on Friday night, urging all political and non-political outfits having "faith in the Constitution and the principle of justice" to take part in the bandh which was initially scheduled for December 22, but was later preponed so that the police recruitment exams next Sunday were not affected.