Lead­ers and work­ers of Tamil na­tion­al­ist par­ties held a mas­sive street protest in Chen­nai against the Cit­i­zen­ship Amend­ment Act and the pro­posed Na­tional Reg­is­ter of Cit­i­zen­ship.  Led by See­man of the Naam Tami­lar Katchi, the pro­test­ers con­verged at Val­lu­var Kot­tam in Chen­nai seek­ing re­peal of the CAA and an­nul­ment of the pro­posed NRC, terming them un­con­sti­tu­tional and anti-peo­ple. The CAA chucks away the Tamils and iso­lates the Mus­lims, said the lead­ers. All the par­ties ex­tended their full sup­port to the stu­dent fra­ter­nity and ex­pressed full sol­i­dar­ity with all lin­guis­tic na­tion­al­i­ties coun­ter­ing these dra­con­ian laws.

HOLD­ING PLAC­ARDS AND SHOUT­ING PRO-TAMIL SLO­GANS, more than a thou­sand ac­tivists con­verged in Chen­nai from across Tamil Nadu to sound the bu­gle against the Cit­i­zen­ship Amend­ment Act and ex­tend full sup­port to the in­dige­nous peo­ple of the North­east who are ag­i­tat­ing to pro­tect their home­land.

Ac­tivists and work­ers of the Naam Tami­lar Katchi (NTK) and Tamizh De­siya Periyakkam (TDP) con­demned the com­mu­nal BJP gov­ern­ment that has di­verted the strug­gle of the lin­guis­tic peo­ple with a sub­verted re­li­gious mo­tive. Speaker af­ter speaker de­clared that Tamils will stand with the peo­ple who were af­fected by the Act.

Ad­dress­ing the me­dia, See­man said, “We Tamils will stand for the Rights of Lin­guis­tic Na­tion­al­i­ties all over the In­dian Union. The Cit­i­zen­ship Amend­ment Act is an un­con­sti­tu­tional sin­ful law that makes peo­ple mis­er­able and vul­ner­a­ble.”

Speak­ing on the oc­ca­sion, in his typ­i­cally spir­ited man­ner, NTK leader See­man ap­plauded West Ben­gal Chief Min­is­ter Mamta Baner­jee for lead­ing the bat­tle from the front against the un­nec­es­sary ex­cur­sion of the Naren­dra Modi gov­ern­ment. He said like Mamta Ban­ner­jee, all state po­lit­i­cal lead­ers must op­pose the CAA.

“We Tamils will stand for the Rights of Lin­guis­tic Na­tion­al­i­ties all over the In­dian Union. The Cit­i­zen­ship Amend­ment Act is an un­con­sti­tu­tional sin­ful law that makes peo­ple mis­er­able and vul­ner­a­ble.”

“I am deeply wor­ried that the AIADMK mem­bers of par­lia­ment com­mit­ted a his­tor­i­cal blun­der by vot­ing in favour of the amend­ment in the Cit­i­zen­ship Act. I am shocked that of AIDMK’s al­liance party PMK also voted in favour of the amend­ments in the In­dian par­lia­ment,” said See­man.

See­man fur­ther ques­tioned the DMK for walk­ing out of the Par­lia­ment in­stead of vot­ing against the Bill.

The Tamizh De­siya Periyakkam (TDP) warned, “A peo­ples rev­o­lu­tion is on the anvil and once it erupts fully, it will wipe out the pow­ers that be. Sup­press­ing and op­press­ing peo­ples will usher in a peo­ples’ rev­o­lu­tion.

Com­ing down heav­ily on the pro­vi­sions of the CAA, the press re­lease ap­pealed to one and all to sup­port the stu­dent ag­i­ta­tion in the coun­try and ap­pealed to all po­lit­i­cal party rep­re­sen­ta­tives to speak out for the rights of the in­dige­nous peo­ples within the In­dian Union.

It is note­wor­thy that peo­ple who mi­grated af­ter March 24, 1971, were to be con­sid­ered as im­mi­grants in the de­por­ta­tion agree­ment signed in 1985 be­tween the then Prime Min­is­ter Ra­jiv Gandhi and the protest­ing stu­dent lead­ers. Un­for­tu­nately, this agree­ment was never im­ple­mented forc­ing the As­sam Stu­dent Or­ga­ni­za­tions (NGOs) to file a pe­ti­tion in the Supreme Court against the 2013 Na­tional Reg­is­ter of Cit­i­zen­ship.

As the NRC was not prop­erly im­ple­mented in As­sam, the SC or­dered the im­ple­men­ta­tion of the proper im­ple­men­ta­tion of the same which re­sulted in the peo­ple liv­ing in As­sam be­com­ing aliens in their own home­land. The BJP fudged the facts and blamed Mus­lims for up­set­ting the de­mog­ra­phy of As­sam, which was to­tally con­trary to the truth.

See­man pointed out that the Cit­i­zen­ship Act of 1955 pro­vides for cit­i­zen­ship for for­eign­ers liv­ing in In­dia for over 11 years. The new Act en­ables cit­i­zen­ship to Hin­dus, Sikhs, Bud­dhists, Par­sis and Chris­tians from Pak­istan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan who had at least lived for 6 years. It clearly dis­crim­i­nates and ne­glects Mus­lims and Tamils.

Ee­lam Tamils who were sub­jected to eth­nic cleans­ing by the Bud­dhist sec­u­lar coun­try Sri Lanka have been grossly ig­nored.

“The CAA must be re­pealed with im­me­di­ate ef­fect,” read the plac­ards held by the TDP cadres.

Com­ing down heav­ily on the pro­vi­sions of the CAA, the ag­i­ta­tion lead ap­pealed to one and all to sup­port the stu­dent ag­i­ta­tion in the coun­try and ap­pealed to all po­lit­i­cal party rep­re­sen­ta­tives to speak out for the rights of the in­dige­nous peo­ples within the In­dian Union.

“This Act is not only against Mus­lims and Tamils, but it is also against hu­man­ity at large. The state gov­ern­ment of Tamil Nadu in an un­de­mo­c­ra­tic and au­to­cratic move is deny­ing the right to protest to stu­dents in Tamil Nadu,” read the state­ment.

NTK Leader See­man ap­pealed to ac­tivists and party cadres to read the truth be­hind con­tem­po­rary de­vel­op­ments.  The Peo­ple of Bi­har, Ben­gal and other Hin­dus from other had en­croached As­samese lands. Elab­o­rat­ing his ar­gu­ment, See­man said that due to the over­whelm­ing dom­i­nance by ex­ces­sive im­mi­grants in As­sam, the peo­ple of As­sam had been fight­ing for a long time with the slo­gan ”As­sam is for As­samese” and that ‘Our Land is Our Right”.

“If Canada can give cit­i­zen­ship to Ee­lam Tamils, why not In­dia?”

It is note­wor­thy that peo­ple who mi­grated af­ter March 24, 1971, were to be con­sid­ered as im­mi­grants in the de­por­ta­tion agree­ment signed in 1985 be­tween the then Prime Min­is­ter Ra­jiv Gandhi and the protest­ing stu­dent lead­ers. Un­for­tu­nately, this agree­ment was never im­ple­mented forc­ing the As­sam Stu­dent Or­ga­ni­za­tions (NGOs) to file a pe­ti­tion in the Supreme Court against the 2013 Na­tional Reg­is­ter of Cit­i­zen­ship.

“As the NRC was not prop­erly im­ple­mented in As­sam, the SC or­dered the proper im­ple­men­ta­tion of the same which re­sulted in the peo­ple liv­ing in As­sam be­com­ing aliens in their own home­land. The BJP fudged the facts and blamed Mus­lims for up­set­ting the de­mog­ra­phy of As­sam, which was to­tally con­trary to the truth,” stated the state­ment re­leased by the NTK.

If In­dia con­tin­ues to be­have like this, what will hap­pen to Hindu cit­i­zens in Is­lamic and Chris­t­ian coun­tries? If all other coun­tries also start de­cid­ing cit­i­zen­ship on re­li­gious lines, will In­dia be­come a sav­iour for Hin­dus from across the world? Will the BJP end its per­verted moves or take In­dia into hell?

See­man pointed out that the Cit­i­zen­ship Act of 1955 pro­vides for cit­i­zen­ship for for­eign­ers liv­ing in In­dia for over 11 years. The new Act en­ables cit­i­zen­ship to Hin­dus, Sikhs, Samanas, Bud­dhists, Par­sis and Chris­tians from Pak­istan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan who had lived for 6 years. It clearly dis­crim­i­nates and ne­glects Mus­lims and Tamils.

“Ee­lam Tamils who were sub­jected to eth­nic cleans­ing by the Bud­dhist sec­u­lar coun­try Sri Lanka have been grossly ig­nored. Since the last 30 years, Ee­lam Tamils ​​who have been liv­ing in Tamil Nadu and are still liv­ing as refugees. This move of the BJP demon­strates that the BJP also be­lieves that Tamils have never been Hin­dus. It is shock­ing to note that In­di­a’s De­fence Min­is­ter Ra­j­nath Singh has said that Tamils quit fight­ing and that they were never per­se­cuted. This is clearly turn­ing a blind eye to the geno­cide and eth­nic cleans­ing of Tamils in Sri Lanka and shows the nasty side of the BJP. The Act seems to be a pre­lude to a con­spir­acy to de­mol­ish the doc­trine of Unity in Di­ver­sity.”

“If Canada can give cit­i­zen­ship to Ee­lam Tamils, why not In­dia?” asked See­man in his speech.

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Pro­test­ers were car­ry­ing plac­ards and shout­ing slo­gans con­demn­ing the storm­ing of the Jamia Milia Uni­ver­sity by the Delhi Po­lice and the CRPF and the beat­ing up of male and fe­male stu­dents. “This is noth­ing but plane state ter­ror­ism,” said See­man.

If In­dia con­tin­ues to be­have like this, what will hap­pen to Hindu cit­i­zens in Is­lamic and Chris­t­ian coun­tries? If all other coun­tries also start de­cid­ing cit­i­zen­ship on re­li­gious lines, will In­dia be­come a sav­iour for Hin­dus from across the world? Will the BJP end its per­verted moves or take In­dia into hell?