Expressing solidarity with Jamia Millia Islamia students, protesting against recent changes in the citizenship law, Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Sunday said the December 15 police action against them is a "blot on the nation".
Terming the Citizenship Amendment Act as "discriminatory", Tharoor asserted that it is against the ideals of unity espoused by Mahatma Gandhi.
"Whatever happened on December 15, is a blot on nation. Without any provocation, without any intimation to the vice chancellor, they (police) entered hostels and attacked women students. Students studying in library were attacked, which is a 'shame, shame, shame' and not acceptable at all," he told the cheering crowd.
Attacking the CAA, the Thiruvananthapuram MP said the Centre's step is discriminatory and an effort to marginalise "one community".
"What has been done by the government is discriminatory and is an effort to marginalise one community in India. That is why we had opposed the introduction of the bill in the Parliament, as it brought for the first time religion in the Citizenship Act," he said.
Tharoor, who addressed the crowd in Hindi and English said, "Religion was no where mentioned in the Citizenship Act until the BJP-led government incorporated it in the CAA. This is not something we can accept."
"The CAA is betrayal to ideals of Mahatama Gandhi, who sacrificed his life for the unity of the nation; to the unity of Hindu and Muslim. India, which Mahatma Gandhi wanted to see, will not be the India after the introduction of religion in the CAA," he said.
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