Shaheen Bagh protesters should agitate against NPR, NRC: Congress' Jairam Ramesh

Kochi, Feb 13: The Senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh on Thursday has come up with a statement for the protesters of the epicentre of anti-CAA protests Delhi's Shaheen Bagh. The Congress leader said that the people of Shaheen Bagh should agitate against the National Population Register (NPR) and National Register of Citizens (NRC) if they are worried that their citizenship is going to be taken away from them.

On Thursday, Ramesh claimed that the ongoing protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) at Shaheen Bagh in New Delhi served the BJP's "communal interest and also helped communal Muslim interests."

"I don't understand what Shaheen Bagh people are protesting about. Are they worried that their citizenship is going to be taken away from them. That is a legitimate fear. Then they should agitate against NPR and NRC. Why are they only agitating against CAA," he asked as per PTI.

The senior Congress leader told PTI, "Fine, I understand the emotion and sentiments. Initially (protest) in four days, five days...but after a while, I think it served the BJP's interest to keep Shaheen Bagh going, it served the communal Muslim interests to keep Shaheen Bagh going."

"These protests helped the BJP, but it also helped the communal outfits," Ramesh said. "... And frankly beyond a point of time, I did not go to Shaheen Bagh," he added.

Earlier, in January, other Congress leaders Shashi Tharoor and Mani Shankar Aiyar had visited Shaheeh Bagh to express solidarity with those protesting against the amended citizenship act.

However, Ramesh slammed the BJP-led Central government for bringing amendments to the Citizenship Act, claiming it was brought to divide the people on the basis of religion.

Expressing that the Congress party's stand on the contentious Citizenship Amended Act (CAA) was very clear, Ramesh also stated that the saffron brigade wants to exclude certain communities from the CAA... BJP's policy is one of excluding Muslims.

With this he also added that Congress wants to include everybody. Tamils from Sri Lanka, Christians from Bhutan, Ahamedias from Pakistan... Citizenship should not be based on religion.