Gopalganj/Siwan: CPI leader Kanhaiya Kumar on Friday urged Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar to lend his weight to the country-wide protests against CAA, NPR and NRC by getting a resolution passed against these in the state legislature.
The former JNU student leader also raised the demand at rallies he addressed in Gopalganj and Siwan districts.
He covered these districts on the second day of his Jan Gan Man Yatra under which he is touring the state with the message 'Samvidhan bachao, Desh bachao' (save the Constitution, save the country).
"I want to make it clear that these rallies are not aimed at an electoral benefit nor are these being organised by any political party.
"I urge the chief minister of Bihar to support our cause and get resolutions passed to the effect in the state assembly. Precedents have been set by many other states," Kanhaiya Kumar said.
The Nitish Kumar-led JD(U) had supported the Citizenhsip (Amendment) Act (CAA) in the Parliament. However, the JD(U) chief, who runs his government in coalition with the BJP in Bihar, has been opposed to implementation of National Register of Citizens (NRC) beyond Assam and has expressed disapproval of the current National Population Register (NPR) forms containing problematic columns like places of birth of parents.
After a party meeting earlier this week, Nistish Kumar had told reporters that his MPs, in both the Houses of Parliament, would urge the Centre to drop these clauses from the NPR forms in view of apprehensions caused by these in people's minds.
Kanhaiya Kumar, who was thwarted from addressing his first scheduled rally in West Champaran on the previous day but was allowed to speak in the adjoining East Champaran hours later, faced stiff opposition from supporters of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha in Gopalganj where his posters were blackened.
The agitators were chased away by police clearing the way for the 32-year-old to deliver his address, during which he took a veiled dig at the BJP youth wing activists.
It is good to chant Vande Mataram. But I would like to tell my friends, the love for the country also entails the love for all its people. Do remember patriotism is not about sycophancy of political masters. They will win elections, and pass over the mantle to their offspring while you all might end up chanting Vande Mataram all your life with no recognition," Kanhaiya Kumar said.
The Narendra Modi government has brought the "divisive measures of CAA and NPR to divert public attention from its failures, its inability to handle the economy, which is tottering at five per cent GDP growth rate, the PMs tall claims of a five trillion dollar economy notwithstanding", he said.
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