VIJAYAWADA: On the concluding day of its two-day 8th State (Andhra Pradesh and Telangana) Conference at Amalapuram on Sunday, the general body of Human Rights Forum (HRF) adopted a resolution condemning the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), terming it an attack on constitutional principles of equality and secularism.Terming the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) undemocratic, the HRF demanded its repeal and release of all those booked under it.
The HRF also described the recent Supreme Court verdict on Ayodhya as “grossly unjust and a capitulation to Hindu majoritarianism”. The judgment was brazenly violative of democratic values, it alleged. Addressing the State conference of HRF on the first day, Prof J Apoorvanand of Delhi University said, “CAA contradicts India’s rich history of pluralism, which guarantees equality before law irrespective of faith.”
The BJP-led Centre was creating a religious test for citizenship that would exclude millions of Muslims, he said. Calling the CAA and NRC as an assault on the Indian Constitution, Apoorvanand said, “It is violative of articles 13 to 16 and article 21 and it should be rejected outrightly.”
“The objective to provide refuge to persecuted is welcome, but the use of religion for bestowing Indian citizenship is abhorrent. The idea of India that emerged from our freedom struggle and whose best values are enshrined in our Constitution are under sustained attack by the forces of Hindutva,” Apoorvanand said.
E Manohar of Swaraj Abhiyan, who spoke on the rights of sexual minorities, said diversity and sexual preferences have to be acknowledged and respected as a right. “The Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, 2019 is a flawed and regressive. The Act betrays a basic comprehension about gender and it’s complexity. It doesn’t address the concerns of those it is intended for,” he observed.