Kanhaiya Kumar Taken Into Custody in Champaran as Police Halts Protest March Against CAA, NRC

Patna: Communist Party of India leader Kanhaiya Kumar was on Thursday taken into custody by Bihar Police along with several others before he could take out a Jan-Gana-Man yatra against the contentious Citizenship Amendment Act and the National Register of Citizens from Champaran.

Speaking to reporters as he was being taken away by policemen, the former student leader said several protesters were to take out the month-long march against the “anti-poor CAA, NRC and NPR (National Population Register)” after paying their respects to Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, but were detained.

He said although the administration wants him and all Indians to show documentary proof of being citizens, the police would not show him the papers for his detention orders.

Kumar said the police had earlier granted permission for the protest march, but it was cancelled on Wednesday night. The march was organised from Champaran on Thursday to coincide with Gandhi’s death anniversary.

He tweeted that hundreds of people are currently staging a sit-in outside the Bhitiharwa Gandhi Ashram after the yatra was halted and Kumar and others were detained.

Earlier, Kumar had garlanded the statue of Mohandas Gandhi and Kasturba Gandhi as he reached the ashram along with supporters. He was to proceed to the Gandhi maidan to address a public meeting against the CAA and NRC, but the district magistrate ordered the permission for that to be cancelled.

Kumar said Gandhi had assured that there should be no form of discrimination against anybody, but it is so strange that police and administration cancelled the permission for the protest at night. “After garlanding the statues, we had to go to Betia and Motihari,” he told reporters amid chants against the government.

The former JNU student has held several protest rallies against the CAA, which he described as a ploy by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and union home minister Amit Shah to create a conflict between Hindu and Muslim communities in the country.

When anyone questions the government about the problems existing in the country, it in turn asks him about his citizenship, the former JNUSU leader alleged.