While the protest against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) and the proposed National Register of Citizens (NRC) is going on for about a week in Dehradun, many citizens feel that one should first learn the correct facts about the issue before staging protests. On the other hand, there are some who consider the CAA to be detrimental considering the few aspects of the Act known to them.
According to Garhwal University faculty member Purna Varma, “The major issue is that people have lots of misunderstanding regarding CAA. One should understand that no existing citizen of India will face any kind of threat to citizenship due to the amendment. People need to be aware of such Acts and amendments before supporting or joining any kind of protest. One should get the correct information first and stop believing anything blindly.”
According to Kunal Rawat, a bank employee, “I completely support the statement of our chief minister Trivendra Singh Rawat who said that 80 per cent of the people who are protesting against CAA and NRC do not even know the facts about it. The powerful people are using innocent and uneducated people to target the government for their politically driven agendas. I completely support CAA and hope the government does not withdraw it because of a few uninformed people in the country.”
“If the Muslims are protesting peacefully then there is nothing wrong in it. We live in a democratic country and people have the right to show disagreement against any decision taken by the government. I personally support CAA but I understand that some are sceptical about it because the government has mentioned certain religions in it. If the government could have used the word ‘minorities’ in our neighbouring countries instead of mentioning religions, I am sure no such protest would have been there in India,” said Sarojni Khandelwal, an editor in a publishing company.
On the other hand, school teacher Prakash Grewal said, “I don’t think that people protesting across the country are wrong. Of course, people lack the complete knowledge of CAA or NRC but can we really blame them? We all know that the current government is biased, so some communities will definitely feel insecure if the government will bring an Act based on religion. India is a secular country. You can’t be biased to the citizens on the basis of their religion.”
Medical student Rukaiya Bano opined, “Honestly, I have not read thoroughly about CAA or NRC but all I know that introducing an Act while mentioning certain religions is not acceptable in a secular country.”
It is pertinent to mention here that an anti-CAA protest on the lines of the one in Shaheen Bagh in Delhi has been going on near the Parade Ground here for about a week now. The protest in Dehradun is organised by senior advocate Razia Beig and Rais Fatima. According to Beig, CAA and NRC are destructive for the whole nation and if the government will introduce such laws in the country, the citizens will stand together against the Government.
