The Freethought Party of India (FPI) and the AMOFOI (Anti-caste Marriage and One- child Family Organisation India) held a joint seminar on the topic “ The CAA is Against Article 14 and Preamble to the Constitution of India : So it must be scrapped” on Saturday with FPI vice-president Hairsh Chandra Kar in the chair.
While giving the background of the CAA that was passed by the Lok Sabha on December 9 and by the Rajya Sabha on December 11, FPI general secretary B Ramchandra CST Voltaire stated that the purpose of the Act was to make India a Hindu Rastra by inflating the population of the Hindus coming from three Muslim countries like Pakisthan, Bangaladesh and Afaganisthan and excluding the Muslims there from and putting them in detention camps. "This itself is inhuman and it goes against the ethical principle of humanism. It is 100% unconstitutional as it is in contravention of the basic Principles of equality and secularism as embedded in the Constitution of India," stated Voltaire.
President, AMOFOI, Manas Jena participating in the seminar, pointed out that the CAA was at variance with the provisions contained in the Vienna Convention on the Status of Refugees of 1951.
Bansidhar Parida, CPI (ML) leader, opined that the CAA was a bad piece of legislation. Parida also opposed the National Register of Citizens (NRC) for the whole country.
Others who spoke included co-ordinator of ODAM (Odisha Dalit Adhikar Manch) Prasanta Mallick, BSP leader MS Yadav, popular rationalistic writer from Badamba, Dr Nihar Ranjan Mahapatra, Sundhasu Sekhar Dhada and co-founder of AMOFOI Swapna Bijayini.