Nude dance of dictatorship to suppress people’s voice: Priyanka Gandhi

Slamming the Narendra Modi government over the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), which many have termed as “unconstitutional” and are protesting against, Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Saturday said that the way government is suppressing common people’s voices against CAA is a “dark day for democracy”.

She said that “illegal arrests” of students, intellectuals, social workers, lawyers and journalists in all parts of the country, including Uttar Pradesh, is “reprehensible”, more so as no one knows where the police are taking the people after arresting them.

She expressed concern at the reports of police keeping in illegal detention several socio-political activists for two days in Lucknow. Their relatives were not informed about the arrests.

“Shocking reports are percolating through media that they are being beaten up and tortured in police custody. The UP government has shut down communication and internet services. In Firozabad, Amroha, Moradabad, Bareilly, Rampur, Kanpur and Gorakhpur, the police lathi-charged the peaceful demonstrators. Police is inciting people to violence during the protests and marches everywhere. There have been reports of 15 people killed in police violence in Uttar Pradesh,” Priyanka Gandhi said in a statement.

She underlined the NRC and the CAA are against the fundamental spirit of the Constitution of India and that assault on Baba Saheb Ambedkar's Constitution will not be allowed at any cost.

“The public is fighting on the streets to protect the Constitution, but the government is bent upon barbaric repression and violence,” she said.

“As the BJP government had made the poor people to stand in queues during demonetisation, now this government will make the people stand in queues in the name of NRC and the Citizenship Amendment Act, a cut-off date will be fixed and every Indian will have to prove his/her Indian Identity by producing some valid document. In this manner, most of the poor and deprived people will be persecuted,” she added.

“The Congress Party appeals for peace and harmony. The country got independence through truth and non-violence. Today it is necessary that Babasaheb Ambedkar's Constitution should be protected through the path of truth and non-violence as envisioned by the Father of the Nation, Mahatma Gandhi,” the Congress leader said.