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."

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.

The CAA is meant to grant citizenship to persecuted Hindus, Sikhs, Parsis, Jains, Buddhists and Christians minorities in Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan, excluding all types of persecuted Muslims, including Shias and their sub-sects, Ahmediyas and others.

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."

Rao said Prime Minister Narenda Modi should not fool people with his lies and propaganda.IANS