Political parties not behind Shaheen Bagh protest: Yechury

Senior CPI (M) leader Sitaram Yechury on Sunday said that political parties were not behind the anti-Citizenship Amendment Act protest in Shaheen Bagh.

Yechury said it was in fact a case of the protesters "leading us and we are walking behind them".

He said the Shaheen Bagh protest, which has captured the imagination of the country since it started over a month ago and has spawned several replicas, reminded him of his days during Emergency.

Yechury was speaking at the Mumbai Collective here. He was accompanied by NCP Lok Sabha member Supriya Sule.

"There is no political party behind such protests. In fact they are leading us and we are walking behind them," he said.

The senior Left leader said such (Shaheen Bagh) protests are taking place in at least 50 places and it is happening like in the case of civil disobedience.

Speaking further, Yechury said every religion may have one holy book, and Hinduism may have several, but for the patriotic Indian, "the Constitution is the only holy book".

Supporting the protests, Yechury said such strident opposition to the National Population Register (NPR) will automatically affect the rollout of the National Register of Citizens.

Sule said issues like CAA and NRC are being used to divert attention of the people from "core factors such as the crumbling economy of the country".

"India is scared while police is living on the edge. We call ourselves representatives of the people in the Lok Sabha but this (Modi) government and the Parliament is not responsive," Sule said.

Taking a swipe at the Narendra Modi government, Yechury said, "At least 10 times, ministers in the Lok Sabha have said the NRC will be the basis of NPR."