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Published 13:42 IST, January 17th 2020

Siddaramaiah wants Congress to lead country wide anti-CAA and NRC protests

On Thursday, former Chief Minister of Karnataka Siddaramaiah stated that Congress's agenda should be to lead the anti-CAA and NRC protests in the country

Reported by: Ananya Varma
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On Thursday, former Chief Minister of Karnataka Siddaramaiah stated that Congress's agenda should be to lead the anti-Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and National Register of Citizens (NRC) protests to stop the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) from implementing their Hindu Rashtra agenda.

The former CM while addressing the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) spoke about how the party's main focus should be CAA and NRC. He also stated that issues such as economy, unemployment, and poverty only came second to CAA and NRC. 

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"While we face several issues such as the economy, unemployment, poverty, and many other things, it is necessary to talk about the CAA and NRC. It should be our (Congress) agenda to lead the anti CAA and NRC protest to stop the BJP from implementing their Hindu Rashtra agenda," he said. 

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Read: BJP's Sambit Patra claims 'insult to Hindu symbol' on Nazi Swastika at Shaheen Bagh poster

'CAA against humanity'

Siddaramaiah stated that laws like the CAA and NRC are not only against the Constitution but also against humanity. He stated that these laws are meant to badly hurt other communities. "There are 19 lakh people in Assam detention centres, out of which 8 lakh people are Muslims. What would happen to others? The Home Minister has given some very confusing statements regarding the issue," he said.

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Read: Siddaramaiah to meet Congress high command in Delhi to decide on CLP leader

"While farmers are committing suicides, atrocities are happening, the economy is in a desperate condition, the government is talking about something else," he added.

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Siddaramaiah stated that 'Sarvejana Sukhino Bhavanthu' (Let the people of the world be happy) was the Congress party's policy. He said that the party's main agenda was towards building a secular country, therefore BJP's agenda of a 'Hindu rashtra' would not be tolerated. 

"We will not at all allow our country to become a Hindu Rashtra on the basis of religion," said the senior Congress leader. 

Read: CM should control 'hooligans' of his party: Siddaramiah

Read: 'Hindu religion not BJP's monopoly': says former Assam CM Tarun Gogoi

13:42 IST, January 17th 2020