Anti-CAA stir: Students converge at Shahid Minar

Kolkata: The protest against Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) saw students of a number of universities in the state conducting a rally from Shahid Minar in Esplanade to the state party office of the BJP located at Murlidhar Sen Lane.

Students from Jadavpur University, Presidency University, Aliah University, Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute and Calcutta University held placards which read 'Scrap NRC, CAA', 'Don't divide people', 'We won't allow fascism to rule in India' as they marched shouting slogans and holding copies of the Constitution.

They claimed that they will not allow implementation of NRC in the country and demanded revocation of CAA and NRC forthwith.

A large police force was deployed along the rally route and barricades were put up in middle of the road in front of BJP office for preventing the protesters come near the office where cadres of the saffron party stood with sticks in their hands. The move by the police was to prevent any sort of altercation between the young students with the BJP activists.

However, there was a minor scuffle between a section of students and policemen as they tried to scale the barricade and go towards the BJP office but the cops ensured that the situation remained under control. A student of Presidency University said: " We had been receiving threats that they will attack the Hindu Hostel for daring to protest against NRC and CAA. We were determined to prove today that we are not panicked."

The students organised a sit-in before the Mahajati Sadan at the end of rally where they sang patriotic songs and then marched back along the same route before dispersal. The youth Congress also took to the streets and staged protest on the same issue in front of the Raj Bhavan.