CAA-NRC-NPR: Massive Protest Rally Held on Jan 3 in Andhra Pradesh’s Guntur

A delegation of Muslim organisations Joint Action Committee (JAC) against CAA-NRC-NPR is set to hold a ‘Million March’ in Hyderabad’s Dharna Chowk on January 4. Since the Citizenship Amendment Bill was passed in both houses of Parliament, the Telugu-speaking states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana have been witnessing peaceful protest demonstrations from small towns to big cities.

On January 3, another massive rally against Citizenship Amendment Act, National Register of Citizens and National Population Register was held in Guntur which was organised by Movement to Save Democracy, an independent association recently formed for the cause.

Several political parties including All India Majlis-i-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM), Congress, Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)], Communist Party of India (CPI), and civil society organisations have been conducting rallies, public meetings and several other forms of protests across the two states. While the ruling Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Congress Party (YSRCP) from Andhra Pradesh voted in support of the bill, as protests intensified across the state, Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy announced that the state government will not conduct the proposed National Register of Citizens (NRC) exercise in the state.

Also read: Anti-CAA Protests: Huge Gatherings in Telugu States, JAC Formed to Continue Fight

While the central government has announced that the NPR will commence from April 1, Left parties are opposing the exercise citing Ministry of Home Affairs documents that the NPR is “the first step of an all India NRC.”

Mohammed Mushtaq Malik, Convenor of the JAC said in a press conference on Friday that Hyderabad’s Million March will be a historic march against the draconian CAA-NRC-NPR as lakhs of people are set to join the rally. While the Million March was earlier planned to be conducted on the Necklace Road in Hyderabad, the police have asked the organisers to change the venue to Dharna Ckowk.

The JAC has earlier held protests in various districts across Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.

The Guntur public meeting was addressed by Prakash Karat, Polit bureau member of CPI(M); Tulasi Reddy, Andhra Pradesh Congress Vice President; Wali Rahmani, Kolkata-based activist; Janab MD Mustafa, Guntur East MLA, among others.

Speaking at the meeting, Prakash Karat said: “The movement against CAA and NRC will continue until the central government repeals the CAA and agrees to not conduct all India NRC.” He demanded Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy to not allow the NPR exercise in the state.

The left parties have also given the call for Andhra Pradesh Bandh on January 8 in opposition to the CAA, NCR and NPR, on the same day that crores of workers across the country are set to participate in an all India general strike and rural bandh.

The BJP, however, has been holding flag rallies in support of CAA and NRC in the two states.