Himanta Biswa Sarma Lashes Out At Shaheen Bagh Protesters

The finance minister of Assam, Himanta Biswa Sarma, slammed the Shaheen Bagh protesters in Delhi, who have been agitating against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). Sarma asked the protesters what they were demonstrating against?

The Assam finance Minister observed that it appeared to him as if the protesters were anti-Hindu, anti-Jain, anti-Christian, anti-Sikh and anti-Buddhist in their attitude. He clarified that the CAA was about granting citizenship rights to persecuted minorities in Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan, consisting of Hindus, Muslims, Jains, Buddhists and Sikhs.

Protesters in Shaheen Bagh, comprising mainly of large group groups of women, have been agitating on the street against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) for more than two months now. The protest has caused a lot of inconvenience to traffic in the area according to a petition seeking clearance of the road, filed in the Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court, in its earlier hearing, observed that the right to protest cannot be viewed as an absolute one. The protesters, speaking to the media during the previous hearing, said that they hoped for justice from the apex court. They also said that they would abide by the Supreme Court verdict.

The protest site is situated on the arterial road linking Noida in the national capital and has been a nodal point of huge traffic snarls every day.

The apex court will hear the matter related to clearance of the road, later in the day.