ABVP, BJP Members Take out Pro-Citizenship Act March in Pune

Pune: Members of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), the RSS's student wing, and local BJP workers organised a march-cum-meeting here on Thursday in support of the amended Citizenship Act, which is facing opposition from various quarters in the country.

The march-meeting was organised on the campus of the Savitribai Phule Pune University (SPPU), which saw a protest against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) earlier this week.

Holding placards with messages in support of the CAA and the proposed NRC, ABVP activists and BJP workers took out a march from the main building and shouted slogans backing the Centre and the new legislation.

"We welcome the CAA and we also welcome the NRC (National Register of Citizens). The Act will not cause any harm to the Muslims in the country.

"Those Muslims who are in the country, they will remain in the country and government of India is committed for their safety," said Raghvendra Risaldar, an ABVP member.

He said the ABVP condemns the "Left-liberal lobby" in the country which is spreading a "misleading" narrative about the Act, which promises citizenship to persecuted non-Muslim refugees from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan.

Risaldar said religious minorities in three countries -Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh - who are facing persecution in their home nation, have no option but to come to India.

"They will not be accepted anywhere. India is the only country where they will be accepted and that is why we should welcome this Act," he said.

Pradip Gavade, another member of the student outfit, said they welcome the move of the Government of India to offer citizenship to the persecuted minority communities in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh.

"There is an attempt to spread an illusion about the Act. It is not that in India, we have only Jamia Millia and AMU as there are students from hundreds of universities and educational institutes who are in support of the CAA," he said.

He accused the Congress and the Left of spreading "wrong things" about the Act, which was passed by Parliament and approved by the President last week. "This Act deals with offering citizenship and not stripping anyone of his/her citizenship," said Gavade.

The enactment of the new citizenship law has triggered massive country-wide protests. CAA's critics say the law is discriminatory and violates the core values of the Constitution.