Various Organisations and Political Parties Stage Day-long Protest against CAA, NRC
Mangaluru: “To end the British rule, Mahatma Gandhiji had fought against the British with weapons of non-violence and truth. Now again we need to get ready for the second freedom fight to be fought with non-violence against the CAA/NRC implemented by the BJP government”, said the former minister Ramanath Rai during the day-long protest against the CAA and NRC organized by various organizations and political parties in front of the Ambedkar Statue at the Town Hall premises here on January 2.
The day-long protest was inaugurated by former minister Ramanath Rai by garlanding the statue of Dr B R Ambedkar.
Addressing the protesters Ramanath Rai said, “On December 19, during the police firing two people lost their lives and many others were injured. The BJP government in the state had ordered to impose section 144 in the state. On December 18, one of the organizations was given permission to hold the protest on 19 and so many had gathered in front of the DC office. But the police resorted to lathi-charge which turn turned violent. Later in the police firing on the protesters, two persons were killed. The BJP is now blaming the involvement of the Congress party in the violence. But since the BJP has blamed us, we demand for a judicial inquiry by a sitting High Court judge because we don’t believe in the magisterial or CID inquiry. If a Judicial inquiry is conducted, the truth will come out.”
Ramanath Rai further said, “You all are the face for our fight against the fascist government. Today people are leading the agitation. The ruling party is blaming and saying that it is the conspiracy of the opposition but the BJP government itself created violence by imposing section 144 in the state. It was preplanned by the BJP government, CM Yediyurappa and Home Minister Bommai are directly responsible for the violence in Mangaluru.”
Ramanath Rai also said, “In a democratic country, everyone has the right to protest but the government has snatched the rights of the people by imposing section 144. The police commissioner said that more than 7000 protesters had gathered in front of the police station, but I need to tell the commissioner that he should work according to the constitution and not for the ruling party.”
DCC President Harish Kumar, MLC Ivan D’Souza, former Minister Abhaychandra Jain, former MLA J R Lobo, Dr Srinivas Kakkilaya, JD(S) Leaders Mohammed Kunhi, Susheel Noronha, M B Sadashiv, Akshith Suvarna, CMP leaders K R Sriyan, Sunil Kumar Bajal, Santhosh Kumar, Jayanti Shetty, DYFI president B K Imtiyaz, Dalit leaders M Devadas, Raghu Yekkar, Ravikiran Punacha and others were also present.
