Ruling& Opp fronts to join hands to protest against CAA on Dec

The ruling CPI(M)-led LDF and the opposition Congress-led UDF will on December 16 launch a joint protest here against the controversial Citizenship (Amendment) Act, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said here on Friday.

State ministers, the leader of the opposition in the assembly and other leaders of the United Democratic Front (UDF) and LDF members will jointly organise a 'Satyagraha' in front of the Martyr's column here to register their protest against the new Act, Vijayan said in a Facebook Post.

"The state has decided to put up a united protest as the Act has created concern among the citizens and it destroys the values of equality and secularism enshrined in the Constitution," he said.

Prominent personalities from cultural-social fields will also take part in the protest, he said adding that the joint protest will raise slogans to withdraw the controversial Act, which he described as "unconstitutional".

The protest will also seek to protect the constitutional values, he said.

"Citizens are being divided in the name of religion. People are concerned over this.

Kerala has already opined that this Law is unconstitutional and cannot be implemented.

We need to protect the Constitution and its values.

The protest will hear the joint voice against the Act," Vijayan said.

Opposition Congress Leader Ramesh Chennithala said the UDF had plans to join hands with like-minded political parties to protest against the controversial Act.

According to the amended Act, members of Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi and Christian communities who have come from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan till December 31, 2014 and facing religious persecution there will not be treated as illegal immigrants, but given Indian citizenship.