After the "success" of the Bharat Bachao Rally last week in the national Capital, the Congress has decided to conduct a 'Save India, Save Constitution' flag march in all the State capitals on December 28, its foundation day.
Congress president Sonia Gandhi would hoist the Congress flag at party headquarters in New Delhi while all senior State leaders and heads of frontal organisations would participate in the march the State capitals, which would be organised by the respective Pradesh Congress Committees (PCCs).
The decision was taken in a meeting of AICC general secretaries and in-charges on late Tuesday night.
AICC general secretary K C Venugopal said that a series of flag marches is being organised in continuation of the success and the momentum generated by the massive 'Bharat Bachao Rally'.
"The flag march is aimed at registering a strong protest against the anti-people policies of the Narendra Modi-Amit Shah led BJP Government which has resulted in massive unemployment, economic slowdown, unprecedented price rise and atrocities against women," Venugopal said.
The divisive policies of the BJP Government like Citizenship Amendment Act and brutal police crackdown on protesting students and citizens will also be taken up, which are aimed at diverting the attention from the burning issues affecting the common people, the party said in a statement.
Congress also said the party did not seek an interim stay by the Supreme Court on the amended Citizenship Act and alleged "misinformation" was being spread about it, while asserting that the legislation goes against India''s global obligations.
The reaction came after the Supreme Court earlier in the day decided to examine the constitutional validity of the CAA, but refused to stay its implementation.
Party leaders Abhishek Singhvi and Jairam Ramesh said at AiCC press briefing that in its petition against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), the Congress did not seek an interim stay on the legislation.They alleged that the law is "unconstitutional" and goes against international treaties signed by previous Governments.
"The main petition in the court today was ours, filed by Jairam Ramesh. I want to clarify that none of the petitioners had asked for an interim stay. We did not seek an interim stay. We only sought a show cause notice to be issued," Singhvi said.
There is misinformation being spread about "our petition". There were about 55-60 petitions" and the Supreme Court made it clear in the beginning that they are issuing notice on the main petition, for which the next date is January 22.
"We made three requests in our petition. This Act is unconstitutional. It is against our international duties. This Government has violated territorial agreements signed by previous Governments, including the Assam Accord and the All Tripura Tribals Force," he said.
"This Act is a clear violation of the right to equality described in the Constitution. There is no provision to find out the harassment and it is selective. The strange thing is that the word ''torture'' does not exist in the Act and there is no mention of it. It is limited to statements only.
"The Torture Convention, which provides for giving shelter to the oppressed people, has been signed by India," he said adding, "The new law hurts the basic spirit of India. So we will stand till the end, we will fight".