The protest group, however, noted, “We will carry out the struggle more aggressively until the State Government passes a resolution in the Assembly.”
Thirty-three days since anti-Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), anti-National Population Register (NPR) and anti-National Register of Citizens (NRC) protests began at Chennai’s Old Washermanpet area, protesters called off their agitation on Tuesday temporarily in light of the coronavirus pandemic.
The statement issued by the group reads, “Coronavirus that has spread across the world is spreading in India too. Keeping in mind these unusual circumstances and also for public good, we have decided to call off the protests temporarily. This is only for now and it has also been decided that in the near future, we will carry out the struggle more aggressively until the state government passes a resolution in the Assembly.”
Earlier on Monday, various Muslim outfits had announced their decision to postpone all the protests that are being organised by them across the state against CAA, yet protests continued in Chennai’s Shaheen Bagh. On Monday night, DMK President MK Stalin urged the anti-Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) protesters in Chennai to temporarily suspend their agitation in the wake of COVID-19.
The gathering at Chennai’s Old Washermanpet area, lead by women, that has been protesting against the controversial CAA since February 14, was dubbed to be Delhi’s Shaheen Bagh in Chennai.
Recently, Tamil Nadu government announced that the National Population Register (NPR) exercise, which is expected to start from April 1, 2020, has been put on hold in the state. Revenue Minister RB Udhayakumar explained that the state was awaiting response from the Centre – the ruling BJP government – to the letter it had sent seeking clarification.
In February, the AIADMK government had written to the Centre, asking for certain details to be avoided in the NPR. This included details like mother tongue, place and date of birth of mother/ father/ spouse, Aadhaar/ mobile number/ voter ID/ driving license number.
In the Assembly, however, AIADMK government reiterated its stand on the controversial Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and said that it will not be able to pass a resolution in the Legislative Assembly against the Central legislation passed in the Parliament.
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Source: The News Minute