Students, residents of Jamia, Shaheen Bagh to send letters to President seeking repeal of CAA

The students have requested the President to repeal the Act in order to protect the foundation of the Constitution and to keep its basic fabric intact

Students of Jamia Millia Islamia and residents of Jamia Nagar and Shaheen Bagh will send letters to President Ram Nath Kovind seeking repeal of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act which they claimed was against the Constitution.

A draft of the letter, framed by the students, were being circulated among residents of Shaheen Bagh, Batla House, Noor Nagar, Okhla and neighbouring areas.

"These letters will be individually posted to the President's office. We have also got 50,000 postcards for the citizens to write to the president on the matter," President of Jamia Alumni Association Shifa-ul-Rehman said.

Over 15,000 letters have so far been signed by the students and citizens that will be sent to the President's office next week, he said.

The draft of the letter says, "The CAA is against the Constitution of India, which ensures justice and equality to all citizens of India irrespective of their caste, creed, colour and religion. There is no second opinion about violation of Article 14 and 15 (by the amended law)."

"Article 14 deals with equality before law. While Article 15 declares that the state cannot discriminate between citizens on the basis of religion, race, caste, sex and pluralism. Therefore this Act is unconstitutional. It has the potential to endanger the national solidarity and pluralism. The central government in its power of majority is ruining the ethos of the Constitution and leading the country towards anarchy and division," it read.

The CAA provides for granting citizenship for persecuted Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians, who had migrated to India before December 31, 2014 from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan.

The students and residents, who have been protesting against the new law at Shaheen Bagh and outside Jamia Millia Islamia, wrote, "Our elders have offered great sacrifices for the freedom of the country. They opposed the two-nation theory strongly and preferred India's composite nationhood and the Ganga-Jamuni tehzeeb over communal division."

Wasim Khan, a Jamia student, said, “We drafted this letter with the help of some seniors and advocates."

Mohd Abbas, a resident of Batla House, said, "The students are reading out the letter to us before handing over. My family and I signed these letters. This Act was brought in by Home Minister Amit Shah to divide the country."

Fatima Sheikh from Shaheen Bagh said, “I signed the letter along with around 120 women from Shaheen Bagh. We go to Jamia University everyday to lend our support to the protest. I have sought more families in the neighbourhood to sign this."