Pro-CAA demonstration staged in Bengaluru

Thousands of people staged a sit-in demonstration here on Sunday in support of the contentious Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA).

"All pro-Indian organisations and people who chant Bharat mata ki jai and Vandemataram demonstrated in support of CAA," the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) spokesperson G. Madhusudhana told IANS.

The Karnataka BJP wing supported the rally at the Townhall centre and tweeted: "Namma Bengaluru comes out in a big way to support the CAA. Thank you Kannadigas for standing up for Bharata Mata."

Meanwhile, one CAA supporter was attacked with knives in Bengaluru.

Bengaluru South MP, Tejasvi Surya tweeted that unknown bike-borne people attacked a BJP follower, Varun, with machetes and knives after participating in the pro-CAA rally.

"Our karyakarta Varun was brutally assaulted with machetes and knives by bike-borne unknown elements at Bamboo Bazaar after pro-CAA rally," said Surya.

Surya said though Varun suffered multiple injuries and skull a fracture, thankfully he is in stable condition now.

"I appeal to everyone to please maintain calm and peace. Violence helps none," added Surya.

The young member of parliament also supported the Act saying, "CAA doesn't take away rights of Indians, especially minorities. It only grants citizenship to religiously persecuted from three countries which historically share landmass with India."

At the CAA support demonstration, Surya appealed people to understand the context and the necessity of the bill.

Attempting to demystify CAA, the BJP said the new law protects the interests of the tribals and indigenous people of the Northeast by excluding areas under the Sixth Schedule and places covered by the Inner Line Permit.

"There is no question of foreigners swamping indigenous population," said the BJP sharing a few more CAA myth-busters.

In contrast to earlier protests, the CAA support rally on Sunday featured several people sporting saffron apparel and flags, along with the tri-colour and placards in Hindi and English.

Some of the placards read, 'It's now or never. #save India', 'I support CAA', and 'CAA is secular'. A huge flexi banner read 'India supports CAA'.

Bengaluru Police Commissioner Bhaskar Rao had imposed Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) from 6 a.m. on Thursday to Saturday midnight in view of the shutdown call by social and student organisations.

With the police ban ending at midnight Saturday, a pro-CAA demonstration was held on Sunday.

Former Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) President Dinesh Gundu Rao criticised the BJP saying, "the BJP is caught in a web of its own deceit. It's not we who linked CAA and National Register of Citizens (NRC) but Amit Shah himself."

He said Prime Minister Narenda Modi should not mislead people on such issue.ians