Letter war over CAA: Retired bureaucrats write to President Ram Nath Kovind regarding

A letter war appears to have broken out over the Citizenship Amendment Act.

A group of “concerned citizens” comprising diplomats and army generals on Friday wrote to President Ram Nath Kovind, seeking action against those indulging in violence in the name of anti-CAA protests.

This came days after a group of retired bureaucrats has written an open letter to the President, asserting the “constitutional and moral untenability” of the Citizenship Amendment Act.

The pro-CAA group, comprising former Rajya Sabha Secretary General Yogendra Narain, former Kerala chief secretary C V Anand Bose, former Research and Analysis Wing chief Sanjiv Tripathi, former deputy chief of army staff N S Malik also met the President and submitted a memorandum claiming that some political elements were sponsoring “violent protestors”

“Whenever India faced challenges on its borders and encountered the onslaught of some of the foreign invaders, it was more because of internal chicanery of individuals and small groups of people for their personal agendas and benefits who have from time to time tried to break the fabric of India's unity and cohesiveness. We are seeing this phenomenon again,” the memorandum read.

The signatories to the memorandum include 11 former high court judges, 72 ex-bureaucrats including IAS, IPS, IFS officers, 56 ex-top defence officers, intellectuals, academicians and medical professionals.

“The fear-mongering which is being spread across the length and breadth of India appears to be motivated and with a sinister design to harm the nation,” they said in the memorandum.

The anti-CAA group of retired bureaucrats, included former National Security Adviser Shivshankar Menon, former foreign secretaries Shyam Saran and Sujatha Singh, former cabinet secretary K M Chandrasekhar, former IPS officer Meeran Borwankar among others.