Miffed at the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance government over the controversial Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), the Assam Pradesh Congress Committee on January 26th, 2020 celebrated India’s 71st Republic Day by reading out the Preamble to the Constitution and the oath enshrined in letter and spirit.
Slamming the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government over its approach on the CAA, Congress workers across the country read out the Preamble to the Constitution on January 26th, 2020.
The preamble is based on the ‘Objectives’which was drafted and moved in the Constituent Assembly by Jawaharlal Nehru on December 13th, 1946. It was adopted on November 26th, 1949 by the Constituent Assembly and came into effect on January 26th, 1950, celebrated as the Republic Day in India.
KC Venugopal, Congress general secretary said, “The fundamental rights that are guaranteed by India’s Constitution are under threat by the flawed policies of the BJP government.”
In Assam, former chief minister Tarun Gogoi, Nagaon MP Pradyut Bordoloi, general secretary Bobbeeta Sharma among others participated in the flag hoisting ceremony held at Rajiv Bhavan in Guwahati.
“I take the opportunity to appeal all my fellow citizens to safeguard the social fabric of India as embedded in the Preamble,” tweeted Gogoi.
The CAA grants citizenship to Hindu, Sikh, Jain, Parsi, Buddhist, and Christian refugees from Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh who came to India on or before December 31st, 2014.
Massive protests broke out in the country soon after the passage of the Bill in both the houses of the parliament. Those protesting against the law say that the Act is discriminatory and creates a divide on the basis of religion.
The protesters in Assam, led by All Assam Students’ Union, say that the Act violates the historic 1985 Assam Accord. Four people had died during the anti-CAA protest in Guwahati. While an oil tanker was set ablaze in Assam’s Sonitpur district by anti-CAA protesters, killing its driver on the spot.
Photo credit: @tarun_gogoi
