CPI leader Kanhaiya Kumar on Thursday kicked off his month long “Hamara desh, hamara samvidhan, Bapu dham se Gandhi maidan (Our country, our constitution, from Bapu’s spot to Gandhi Maidan)”, protest march against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) and the proposed nationwide National Register of Citizens (NRC) from Gandhi’s Bhitiharwa Ashram in West Champaran.
The group of marchers led by the former Jawaharlal Nehru University Student’s Union president, his supporters and local party workers was, however, stopped for some time by authorities who prevented Mr. Kumar from addressing a meeting outside the ashram after the district administration rescinded the permission given to him due to the ongoing Saraswati Puja.
“He (Kanhaiya Kumar) was neither detained nor arrested,” West Champaran District Magistrate Nilesh Ramchandra Deore said by telephone. “Since his meeting was cancelled by the district administration last night to maintain law and order situation there on occasion of Saraswati Puja, he was stopped from addressing the meeting for sometime,” he added.
However, Mr. Kumar was later allowed to address the meeting and to begin his protest march.
Earlier, in a post on social media the CPI leader had said he was being detained by the West Champaran police and was not allowed to address the meeting and begin his protest march. Speaking to local journalists he reportedly said, “the administration wants all Indians to show documentary proof of being citizens but the police is not showing papers for the detention order”. “They (the BJP government at the Centre) have used official machinery as a part of a deep rooted conspiracy to gag the voice of the common people and derail my scheduled programme, which is aimed at spreading awareness about CAA, NRC and NPR to the common people,” he contended.
The protest march, which commenced on Mahatma Gandhi’s death anniversary, is scheduled to culminate with a public meeting at Patna’s Gandhi Maintain on February 29. However, at one place a group of youth showed flags, with the message “go back” written on them, to the marchers.
