Assam Detention Camp deaths, All India NRC & CAB: Protests held country-wide

Yesterday, November 6, 2019, citizens all over the country came together to protest against the implementation of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam, that left more than 19 lakh Indians stateless and 27 dead in the abominable detention camps.

Communist Party of India (Marxist – Leninist) (CPIML) had called for country-wide protests on November 6 demanding to shut down detention camps which are nothing but a ‘new version of Hitler’s concentration camps’ The protesting group has also demanded that the government pull back on the proposed exercise to extend NRC to an all India level, as well as strongly opposed the Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB).

Before the final NRC list was issued this year, 25 people had already lost their lives in the deplorable detention camps. The families of two others, Dulal Paul and Falu Das who were declared ‘foreigners’ and died soon after, refused to accept their bodies in protest to the conditions they were subjected to in these camps taking the toll to 27!

Now, the Amit Shah government says it will roll-out the NRC all over India, forcing every Indian to submit documents proving that their ancestors were registered citizens and voters in 1951. The central government still says that the detention camps will be opened in every state. Such camps are already under construction in Maharashtra, Karnataka and Kerala.

The government which is also planning to implement the CAB has displayed its fascist ideology by saying that the bill will ensure that if you are not Muslim, you will be accepted as a “refugee” and can apply for Indian citizenship. This only means that under NRC and CAB, Indians will be left with the choice of either dying in detention camps if Muslim, or being reduced from a citizen to “refugee” status if not Muslim!

The CPIML has strongly opposed these ‘fascist exclusionary designs’ in the name of NRC and CAB and has called for all citizens – Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Muslims, and Christians, workers, peasants, students, and women – to unite to resist this ploy which is meant to endanger citizenship of India’s people.

On November 6, protests were held in districts of Assam, Bihar and Uttarakhand. . Protests were also held at many places in UP, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Odisha, Punjab, as well as Tamil Nadu apart from other states in the country.

CPIML Politburo member Kunal said in Patna that Modi government has inflicted another disaster on the country in the name of NRC and CAB, which will devastate India’s common people.

BJP’s divisive agenda is now coming to the fore with the announcement of their intent to execute the NRC and CAB all over the country.

The police have already started detaining suspected immigrants in Bengaluru. Housing complexes are refusing to employ Bengali speaking workers as labourers or domestic help.

Citizens for Justice and Peace (CJP) condemns the NRC and CAB and supports the CPIML in its fight against this fascist decision of the government.