Lawyers of the Madras High Court staged an hour long protest against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), 2019, and the nation-wide National Register of Citizens (NRC) exercise on January 3.
Over 250 lawyers participated in the protest, forming a human chain in the premises of the court. Senior advocates Nalini Chidambaram, Sudha Ramalingam and Vaigai Kannadasan also participated in the demonstration.
The protesters waved Indian flags and read out the Preamble of the Constitution as a mark of dissent against the controversial Act, which many experts term to be a violation of the Article 14.
The lawyers also carried placards, some of which read – “Defend the Constitution of India”, “Equality and Fraternity”, “A Sovereign Socialist Secular Democratic Republic”.
The nation has been witnessing widespread agitations against the CAA, ever since it was passed by the Parliament in December last year. The Act grants citizenship to the Hindus, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhist, Jains and Parsis, from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh who had arrived in India before 31 December 2014. Critics deem the Act to be discriminatory against the Muslim community.