Students, residents of Jamia, Shaheen Bagh to send letters to Prez seeking repeal of CAA

New Delhi: Students of Jamia Millia Islamia and residents of Jamia Nagar and Shaheen Bagh will send letters to President Ram Nath Kovind seeking repeal of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act which they claimed was against the Constitution.

A draft of the letter, framed by the students, were being circulated among residents of Shaheen Bagh, Batla House, Noor Nagar, Okhla and neighbouring areas. "These letters will be individually posted to the President's office. We have also got 50,000 postcards for the citizens to write to the president on the matter," President of Jamia Alumni Association Shifa-ul-Rehman said. Over 15,000 letters have so far been signed by the students and citizens that will be sent to the President's office next week, he said. The draft of the letter says, "The CAA is against the Constitution of India, which ensures justice and equality to all citizens of India irrespective of their caste, creed, colour and religion. There is no second opinion about violation of Article 14 and 15 (by the amended law)."

"Article 14 deals with equality before law. While Article 15 declares that the state cannot discriminate between citizens on the basis of religion, race, caste, sex and pluralism. Therefore this Act is unconstitutional. It has the potential to endanger the national solidarity and pluralism. The central government in its power of majority is ruining the ethos of the Constitution and leading the country towards anarchy and division," it read. The protesters wrote, "Our elders have offered great sacrifices for the freedom of the country. They opposed the two-nation theory strongly and preferred India's composite nationhood and the Ganga-Jamuni tehzeeb over communal division."