It is unfortunate that the Home Minister, Amit Shah, has chosen to call those protesting against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019, and the National Population Register as the “tukde tukde” gang (“splintering group”) ‘under the leadership of the Congress and that they should be punished in the coming elections’ (Page 1, December 27). The unsecular and divisive nature of the Act is very obvious in its wording. There were some who said in Parliament before the introduction of the Bill that even though the law was bound to raise a controversy, the government did not want to procrastinate on the issue. Hence the Minister cannot claim that the protests by students and others are at the instigation of the Opposition parties. Instead of continuing to adopt a belligerent stand, the government should initiate a consultative process with all stakeholders.
K. Natarajan,
Madurai
