Sonia Gandhi calls CAA 'divisive', seeks probe into police excesses on agitators

New Delhi: Hitting out at the Narendra Modi-led NDA government at the Centre, interim Congress chief Sonia Gandhi on Saturday said that the new citizenship law (CAA) was ''discriminatory and divisive'' and demanded a probe into the police excesses on anti-CAA agitators. ''A comprehensive high-powered commission should be set up to probe into incidents connected with the CAA protests and provide justice to the affected people,'' Sonia Gandhi said after chairing the Congress Working Committee meeting on Saturday. 

"The sinister purpose of the law is clear to every patriotic, tolerant and secular Indian. It`s to divide the Indians on religious lines. Thousands of young men and women, especially students, have realised the grave harm the CAA will cause,'' she added.

A resolution passed by the Congress Working Committee stated that the Narendra Modi Government has unleashed the entire might of the brute State power to suppress, subjugate and stifle the voice of the youth and students across the country. Prime Minister and the BJP Government have betrayed the trust of the youth.''

''A concerted attack on the Constitution, rampant unemployment, commercialization of education, unprecedented fee hikes and autocratic refusal to listen to the voice and concerns of youth-students have led to spontaneous protests across the colleges and university campuses. Instead of listening to the students, the only response of BJP Government has been to unleash police lathi charge, tear gas shells, forcible arrests, lodging of FIRs and even planned attacks on the protesting students and the youth.''

''Almost every institution in the country – from Delhi University, JNU, Jamia Millia University, Banaras Hindu University, Allahabad University, AMU, and many others have seen massive protests.''

''Modi Government is systematically attacking the culture of creative thinking and learning, of questioning the hierarchy and of inculcating the culture of assimilation and cohabitation. BJP government realizes that students and the young cannot be divided through its sectarian agenda. Hence, a designed conspiracy has been unleashed to attack the centres of creative and independent thinking i.e. colleges and universities,'' the CWC statement stated.  

Praising the anti-CAA protesters, Sonia Gandhi said they had taken to the streets braving the cold as well as the police brutalities. "I salute their courage, abiding faith in values of the Constitution, and determination to defend and protect those values. We are inspired by their struggle," the Congress leader said.

Stating that millions of Congress workers will stand shoulder to shoulder with the people of India in their struggle for equality, justice and dignity, Sonia said the situation in some states was alarming and they, like UP and Delhi, were being turned into police states.

"We are appalled by the police excesses and use of brute force in many towns of UP, in Jamia Millia Islamia, in the Jawaharlal Nehru University, the Banaras Hindu University, the Allahabad University, the Delhi University, the Gujarat University, the Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru," Gandhi said.