SOURCE: Times Now Digital
There are no takers for “Kagaz nahin dikhayenge” (we won’t show any documents) anti-NRC and anti-CAA protest anthem in Gujarat’s Ahmedabad as people are seeking citizenship documents in huge number.
Statistics show that Amdavadis are seeking citizenship documents and applications in courts have increased. As per the data accessed by TOI, Muslims, who constitute 10 per cent of Ahmedabad’s population, accounted for nearly 50 per cent of the total litigants at the Ahmedabad metropolitan court seeking birth certificates from November 2019 to March 2020.
People from all religions coming forward for documents
Not just Muslims, but people from all religions are coming forward to get documents so that they can prove their Indian citizenship.
The Amdavad Municipal Corporation’s birth and death registration department received several applications and the numbers jumped from the earlier 25-30 per day to nearly 125 per day.
The anti-CAA protests first erupted across India from December 2019.
After the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill was passed by Parliament and signed into law by President Ram Nath Kovind, Muslims in Karnataka rushed to get their citizenship documents updated.
With the BJP insisting on a country-wide National Register of Citizens process, people were told to update their documents in the mosques during Friday prayers.
Assistance centres were opened in front of mosques in the state by community leaders, mosques and the Karnataka State Board of Wakfs.
Census, NPR deferred
The rush of minority community members to get their hands on birth certificates demonstrates their enthusiasm to protect their identity as Indian citizens.
Meanwhile, the first phase of the Census and National Population Register (NPR) exercise which was set to be held this year but deferred due to the coronavirus outbreak may be delayed further due to surge in the deadly pandemic.
An official told PTI that Census is not an essential exercise for now and even if it is delayed by a year, there would be no harm.
