Hindu, Sikh refugees protest in Delhi near Congress office over I.N.D.I.A bloc leaders' statements on CAA

New Delhi: Hindu and Sikh refugees from Pakistan and Afghanistan held a protest near the Congress headquarters here on Friday over statements made by I.N.D.I.A opposition bloc leaders on the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA).

The protesters carried placards and raised slogans against Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi, and AAP national convener and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. "When the BJP-led Centre is implementing the CAA to give us citizenship, why are other political parties opposing it? We are protesting against them for opposing the law,' Panju Ram, one of the protesters, said.

The protesters assembled near Jaisalmer House and started marching towards Akbar Road but were stopped, according to police.

In view of the protest, police and paramilitary personnel were deployed in the Central Delhi area. Sona Das, who came to India from Sindh in Pakistan, said that 'opposing the CAA is not a good thing'. "Minorities from Pakistan came to India for refuge. We are Hindu refugees, we fled from Pakistan," Das said, amid chants of 'Jai Shri Ram'.

Nanki, another refugee from Sindh, said, "Some political leaders have spoken against us and said that the process to give citizenship should be stopped. We have no enmity with them. We have just come to ask why (the process to give) our citizenship should be stopped?"

The Hindu and Sikh refugees staged a protest near Delhi Chief Minister Kejriwal's Civil Lines residence here on Thursday, demanding an apology from the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader over his statements against the implementation of the CAA.

The protesters had said Kejriwal should withdraw his statements against the CAA and refugees, and tender an apology.