Muslims take out protest march against CAA, burn Ajmer dargah deewan's effigy

Large number of Muslims, including khadims of the Ajmer dargah, took out a protest march against the amended Citizenship Act here on Friday, demanding a rollback of the controversial law.

They also burnt an effigy of Deewan Zainul Abedin Ali Khan, the spiritual head of the dargah, accusing him of misleading Muslims on the issue of the amended Citizenship Act.

"The Centre should repeal the Act, which is an attack on the Preamble of the Constitution. The government should also say that the NRC (National Register of Citizens) will not be implemented (countrywide)," Sarwar Chisty, a khadim of the dargah, said.

Slogans such as "long live communal harmony" were raised by the protesters. The march started from the dargah and concluded at the collectorate, after passing through the crowded dargah bazaar.

Chisty alleged that the dargah deewan misled Muslims by stating that the amended Act was not against them, adding that therefore, his effigy was burnt.

The spiritual head had last week said the amended Citizenship Act was not against Muslims and they need not fear it as it did not pose any danger to their citizenship. He had also urged the Centre to implement the amended Act only after allaying the fear over it.

However, on Monday, Khan demanded that the government stopped the implementation of the amended Citizenship Act and wrote a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in this regard.