'Dictatorial mindset' to suppress anti-CAA voices: Priyanka

Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Saturday accused the BJP-led Central government of "applying a dictatorial mindset" to suppress the voice of people over the controversial Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the National Register for Citizens (NRC).

She also said that the CAA and the NRC are against the Constitution and against the poor of the country.

In a statement, Priyanka Gandhi, who is also the party in-charge for eastern Uttar Pradesh, said: "The NRC and the CAA are against the fundamental spirit of the Constitution and assault on B.R. Ambedkar's Constitution will not be allowed at any cost."

Referring to the protests across the country over the CAA, she said that the people are fighting on the streets to "protect the Constitution but, the Government is bent upon barbaric repression and violence".

Recalling how people stood in long queues after demonetisation in November 2016, she said: "As the BJP government had made the poor people to stand in queues during demonetisation, now it will make the people stand in queues in the name of NRC and the CAA, a cutoff date will be fixed and every Indian will have to prove his/her Indian Identity by producing some valid document." "In this manner, most of the poor and deprived people will be persecuted," she said.

Priyanka Gandhi also said that the illegal arrests of students, intellectuals, social workers, lawyers and journalists in all parts of the country was "reprehensible".

"No one knows where the police is taking the people after arresting them throughout the country, including the state of Uttar Pradesh. It is a dark day for democracy."

Recounting the narrative of the those detained by the police in Uttar Pradesh, she said that in Lucknow, police has been keeping several socio-political activists in illegal detention for two days.

"Their relatives were not informed about the arrests. Shocking reports are percolating through media that they are being beaten up and tortured in police custody," she alleged.

Condemning the death of 15 protesters in Uttar Pradesh, she said that the Yogi Adityanath-led state government has shut down communication and internet services in districts like Lucknow, Firozabad, Amroha, Moradabad, Bareilly, Rampur, Kanpur and Gorakhpur while police baton charged peaceful demonstrators. She further alleged that police was inciting people to violence during the protests and marches everywhere.

Appealing the people to maintain peace and harmony, she reminded the citizens that the country got independence through truth and non-violence. "Today it is necessary that Ambedkar's Constitution should be protected through the path of truth and non-violence as envisioned by the Mahatma Gandhi," she added.IANS