Hyderabad: Amid demonstrations against the controversial Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) across South Indian state of Telangana, a prominent Urdu writer Mujtaba Hussain on Tuesday announced returning Padma Shri Award to the federal government as a mark of protest.
After the Moulana Azad National Urdu University, it was the turn of Osmania University (OU) and several other educational institutions to raise a strong voice of protest. Thousands of students came out of classes and held a protest against the CAA, which keeps the Muslims out of the list of minority communities whose members can get citizenship if they migrate from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan.
A large number of police personnel were deployed on the OU campus on Tuesday as students demonstrated to express their solidarity with the students of Jamia Millia Islamia in Delhi and Aligarh Muslim University who became victims of police crackdown. Students from Potti Sriramulu Telugu University, English and Foreign Languages University and Tata Institute of Social Studies (TISS) also gathered on the campus to take part in the demonstration.
The organisers of the protests took strong objection to the presence of police on the campus though the protest was peaceful. Later in the night, the students also held a candle light vigil.
Speaker after speaker condemned the new law and declared that the student community will not submit any documents in future to prove that they are Indian citizens. Cyberabad police are keep a close watch on the situation.
Mujtaba Hussain, an octogenarian Urdu writer famous for his satire, announced he was returning one of India’s highest civilian awards as he was pained by the state of democracy in the country.
“The CAA is nothing but [a] plunder of democratic values and a conspiracy to destroy the composite culture of the country,” the 87-year-old said.
Hussain, a recipient of several awards in many countries and respected for decades’ long literacy work, said, “I am very much concerned over the disastrous implications of this new act.”
“I am worried about the nature of this country, which I will leave for my children and next generation,” said Hussain who lives in Hyderabad after retiring from government service in Delhi.
An author of 25 books, including his most popular travelogue ‘Japan Chalo Japan’ (Let us go to Japan), “there is a serious threat to democracy and I am feeling suffocated”.
Meanwhile, Telangana High Court was also rocked on Wednesday by protests both in support and against the CAA.
While one group of lawyers shouted slogans against the law at one of the gates of the High Court, another group of lawyers raised slogans supporting the law.
The students of Nizamia Unani Tibbi College also held a demonstration near historic Charminar in the city.
Meanwhile, the Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen has called for a protest meeting on December 21 in Hyderabad. The meeting would be held under the aegis of United Muslim Action Committee and will be attended by several Muslim organisations including those opposed to the MIM, organisers said.
