The opposition parties, including Samajwadi Party, Bahujan Samaj Party and Congress, staged a walkout from UP Assembly protesting the Citizenship Amendment Act and “police brutalities” against students of Aligarh Muslim University agitating against the law.
Raising the issue through an adjournment notice, Leader of Opposition Ram Govind Chaudhary said that CAA would have long-term ramification for the state and the country, and that the controversial law had pushed the nation into anarchy.
Chaudhary said that the police went berserk and resorted to brutal measures to control peaceful stir by the students of Aligarh Muslim University and Darul Uloom Nadwatul Ulama in Lucknow. He also demanded that the Assembly should adopt a resolution and send it to the Center for roll back of the CAA.
Chaudhary said that the government should learn from history that whenever students agitated on the streets, the government of the day had to resign and the same situation has surfaced in UP after three decades. He said that the government must explain as to why Muslims were not added in CAA and there could be no classification on the basis of religion as per Indian Constitution.
Speaker Hriday Narayan Dikshit said that it was beyond legislative competence of the Assembly to debate on CAA as per the Seventh Schedule of Indian Constitution. He said that there was clear division of subjects and powers between the Centre and the states and citizenship issues were under the jurisdiction of the Union government.
Leader of Bahujan Samaj Party Lalji Verma also demanded CAA rollback. He said that the police in AMU deliberately damaged vehicles of the students and many vehicles were torched by the police. He said that the suspension of internet after the agitation due to CAA was evidence enough that the law and order had collapsed in the state.
Aradhna Mishra of the Congress asked the government to ensure safety and security of students from UP at Jamia MiIlia Islamiya University.
Opposing the adjournment notice, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Suresh Khanna alleged that the opposition was trying to incite violence and wanted to push the state into anarchy.
Rebutting the charges of police brutalities, Khanna said that the police dealt with arson and violence by students with utmost restraint. He said that the police could not be expected to remain mute spectators when students attack police post and damage public property.
The minister said that law would take its own course if anybody tried to disrupt peaceful atmosphere. He also claimed that law and order was fully under control and only three opposition parties wanted to create anarchy for their narrow political ends. The Speaker later rejected the adjournmanet notice.