'Ready to meet anti-CAA protestors,' says Kerala Governor Arif Mohammad Khan

Amid the ongoing nationwide massive protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), Kerala Governor Arif Mohammad Khan on Monday said that he is ready to hold talks with the protestors. This comes after agitated students and youth wings of the CPI(M) and Congress marched to the official residence of the newly-appointed Governor on Sunday to hold protests. In response, Khan called upon the vice-chancellors of all the universities in the state. However, upon his arrival at the Cochin University of Science and Technology on Monday, he was received by angry protestors which the police removed later. 

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Addressing the media, later on Monday, Governor Khan said that it is normal for people to protest and that he is also ready to have talks with the protestors. The Governor also invited the protestors to the Raj Bhavan, in groups or individually, as they please. 

Student protest against CAA

The CAA seeks to provide citizenship to the minority communities namely Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan. This will be applicable to the members of these communities having arrived in India on or before December 31, 2014. There were severe clashes in the national capital on Sunday. People protesting against the Citizenship Amendment Act clashed with the police in New Friends Colony near Jamia Millia Islamia University leaving nearly 60 people injured. Subsequently, there were reports of students being injured and detained as the police entered the Jamia campus. In the early hours of Monday, 50 students were released by the police from the Kalkaji police station and the New Friends Colony police station. Similar scenes were witnessed at the Aligarh Muslim University as well. 

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SC demands an immediate end to rioting

When senior advocate Indira Jaising mentioned this matter, the CJI made it clear that the bench was not making a judgment on who was right and wrong. Mentioning that they had seen enough riots, the judges called for an immediate stop to the rioting. Chief Justice of India (CJI) SA Bobde contended that the court could not do anything until things cooled down. Moreover, he observed that public property was being destroyed.

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