The Left parties – Communist Party of India (Marxist), Communist Party of India, Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist)-Liberation, All India Forward Bloc and Revolutionary Socialist Party – have issued the following statement on December 12, 2019

BOTH the houses of parliament have passed the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill (CAB).  The Left parties consider this bill as being completely violative of the Indian constitution and aimed at destroying the secular democratic foundations of the Indian republic.

The Left parties strongly oppose this bill that links citizenship with the religious affiliation of an individual, the very antithesis of secularism. 

This bill aims to further sharpen the communal divide and social polarisation in the country, which is dangerously detrimental to the unity and integrity of our country. 

The passage of this bill, along with the proclamations by this Modi-Shah BJP government to extend the National Register of Citizens (NRC) to the entire country, is the twin combination to change the character of the Indian republic – from a secular democratic one into an “Hindutva Rashtra”, the RSS political project.

The Left parties call upon all their units all over the country to organise popular protest actions against the CAB-NRC on December 19, 2019.

On this day, December 19, 1927, Ram Prasad Bismil, who rendered the stirring patriotic call rousing the Indian people in the freedom struggle, Sarfaroshi ki Tamanna was hanged at the Gorakhpur jail.  Ashfaqulla Khan, a co-accused, was hanged at the Faizabad jail and another co-accused Roshan Singh was hanged at the Naini jail.  This unity, overriding religious affiliations won India its freedom from the British.  This, today, is being ruptured by the RSS-BJP.