The Iranian Army’s Ground Force has begun a massive military exercise in the central region of the country with the objective of assessing the combat capabilities of various military units and testing new weaponry.

The drills started in the Nasrabad region of Isfahan on Friday with the presence of senior military commanders, including Deputy Chief of Staff of Iran’s Armed Forces Brigadier General Aziz Nasirzadeh.

A spokesperson for the drills provided details about the exercise, stating that it involves various units of the Army, including infantry, armored, missile, artillery, aviation, drones, as well as electronic, modern, and cyber warfare units.

He emphasized that the exercise, in line with the new organizational structure, focuses on four key features, namely speed, precision, intelligence, and the ability to automate and network military equipment.

These four features will be assessed in various stages of the exercise through field evaluations.

Source: https://en.irna.ir/news/85272168/Iran-Army-s-ground-force-kicks-off-massive-military-drills

The post Amid Gaza War Iran Starts Massive Army Drill appeared first on worldnewsunion.

The Israeli war on the Hamas outfit and subsequent Gaza bombing past 13 days seem to be no end to the bloodshed as the death toll reached 4000 in Gaza including children and women. The significant news is that 2 American hostages have been released by Hamas on humanitarian grounds, a mother, and a daughter where there seems to be no humanitarian consideration for Gaza civilian bombing by Israeli fighter jets.

Israel’s ground forces await to invasion via Gaza’s southern border

Massive Israeli IDF troop build-up continues for a possible invasion of Gaza and it can happen at any point in time. Fear for the global community is that the civilian death toll may increase alarmingly when the population is already without power, water, and food.

Humanitarian aid amid Gaza war

Humanitarian aid via the Rafah Cross of Egypt reached Gaza and awaits supply to the affected civilian population.

Will Israel stop the Gaza genocide?

The world witnessed horrific sights from Gaza when Israel bombed the al-Ahli Arab Hospital, and Greek Orthodox church where at least 470 were killed in the hospital and 18 in the church, and civilians were taken shelter. Also wiped out 50 members family overnight. from their residence.

What is the humanitarian crisis in Gaza?

On October 7, Israel initiated a heavy bombardment and blockade of Gaza in response to a significant attack by Hamas. This has resulted in a dire situation for Gaza’s 2.3 million residents, as they are now without electricity, putting essential services like healthcare and water supply on the brink of collapse due to the Israeli blockade to punish the Gaza Strip. Hospitals are also facing a shortage of fuel for their generators, and hundreds of thousands of people have been displaced in the Hamas-governed territory.

The post Global Community Unites in Prayer for Gaza as Conflict Escalates towards a Global Crisis appeared first on worldnewsunion.

• German President’s Ukraine visit proposal rejected
  
• France refuses to back Biden’s ‘Russian genocide’ claim in Ukraine
  
• Liberated cities may find more civilian casualties like Bucha, EU to send investigators
  
• Bucha atrocities may invite more sanctions on Russia
  
• France, Germany to sack Russian diplomats
  
• Streets of Ukraine – Civilian dead bodies, destroyed tanks, scattered mines are the aftermath of Russian withdrawal
  
• Russia denies Bucha war crimes accusation of killing civilians
  
• Zelensky refused ‘the last peace offer’ by German Chancellor just before the war advising being ‘neutral’
  
• Russian troop withdrawal reported near Kviy
  
• Russia says Ukraine attacked on fuel depot in Belgorod
  
• At least $10 billion needed to restore Mariupol’s infrastructure
  
• Ukraine-Russia fresh peace talks in Turkey this week, Ukraine considers to be neutral
  
• NATO-US not aiming to remove Putin
  
• Russia planning to divide Ukraine into 2 separate regions in post war scenario
  
• Hacker group ‘Anonymous’ claims it hacked Russian ministry of defense and State Television channels
  
• US President Biden meets Ukraine’s Foreign, Defense ministers in Poland
  
• Russian military says More than 1,300 servicemen have been killed and nearly 4,000 injured in the offensive in Ukraine
  
• The Russian defense ministry said that the initial aims of the war were complete, and now focus on liberating Eastern Ukraine
  
• A shipment of 1,500 “Strela” anti-aircraft missiles and 100 MG3 machine guns from Germany arrived in Ukraine
  
• US President Joe Biden landed in Poland for EU Summit on Ukraine
  
• EU Signs a major gas deal with US to reduce Russian gas import
  
• At least 300 people are feared to have been killed in the bombing of Mariupol’s drama theater
  
• Germany to cut Russian oil imports by half
  
• Mariupol City Council calls for help as residents are stranded and starving due to shelling by Russian forces
  
• Ukraine attacked Russian naval ship at Berdyansk port
  
• G7 countries welcome International Criminal Court’s investigation into possible war crimes committed in Ukraine by Russia
  
• US preparing contingency plans in case Russia uses chemical, biological, or nuclear weapons in Ukraine
• EU doubles aid to Ukraine to $1.1 million
• Putin: Russia will only accept rubles for gas deliveries to EU/unfriendly countries
• More than 100,000 stuck in Mariupol without food or water
• Belarus expels most Ukrainian diplomats, shuts Ukraine’s consulate general
• UK to supply air defense systems to Poland
• Russia will use nuclear weapons only when the country’s existence is threatened – Kremlin
• UN calls to end the ‘unwinnable’ war
• Ukraine wont surrender Mariupol as Russian deadline nears
• Mariupol under severe Russia bombing, maternity hospital and military bunkers attacked
• Russia used its hyper-sonic missile for the first time in history
• Russian advances to Ukraine slows down due to stiff resistance from Ukraine forces
• President Zelensky calls for immediate talks with Putin
• Russian Missile Strike Near Western city of Lviv Airport In Ukraine
• Biden-Xi Call today on Ukraine War
• Biden Calls Putin A War Criminal
• Australia Threatens China With Sanctions If Backs Russia
• Ukraine Sought Weapons Of Mass Destruction – Putin
• US Reiterated That Not Interested In World War 3
• Russia announces ban on Biden other top US officials
• Biden to attend EU, NATO summit in Brussels with focus on Ukraine
• US Senate condemns Putin as a war criminal
• Russia – Ukraine talks resume after a break
• US warns China against helping Russia in the war
• US threatens Russia that NATO will strike back if hit on NATO Territory
• Russian air strike kills 35 Ukraine soldiers on military base
• 100s of anti war protesters arrested in Russia
• Russian forces regroup near Kyive for an assault on the Ukraine capital
• Half of the Kyiv population flee
• Russia accuses Ukraine on secret development of bio weapons backed by US
• Russian air strike hits at Mariupol maternity hospital, 17 reported hurt
• Ukraine wont press for NATO membership
• US, UK bans Russian oil import, Germany may not follow
• Russian Official says due to the sanction on Nord Stream 2 pipeline, European gas prices surge
• US rejects Poland’s Mig-29 offer
• No fly zone over Ukraine call rejected by NATO
• Xi Says China willing to Mediate on Ukraine Crisis
• Kyiv residents decides to defend the Capital City from Russian troops
• 1.5 million flee from Ukraine to neighboring countries as war refugees

The post Latest Update – Russia’s Invasion Of Ukraine appeared first on worldnewsunion.

But so far the Ukrainian forces fought hard to keep the invading forces at bay with a very limited eastern and northern portion of the country under Russian control including the breakaway Donetsk and Luhansk. In short, the Russian advancing towards Kyiv and the central Ukraine has been stalled or delayed significantly which shows that the war is going to be longer than it appears to be.

30 Days of Ukraine War – Civilian Casualty

According to Ukrainian forces Russia has conducted 1,804 air raids on Ukraine, 1100 missile strikes, killing thousands of people and devastated the lives of over 40 million people. As per UN at least 977 civilians were killed and 1,594 injured but in real the civilian death toll is much higher. 4,431 residential buildings, 548 schools, and 135 health care institutions were partially or completely destroyed. Due to heavy shelling and air raids by the Russian forces approximately 10 million Ukrainians flee their homes, out of which more than half is displaced within the country and the balance flee neighboring countries such as Poland, Romania, Maldova, Bulgaria etc.

Russian Casualty

Russia confirmed it lost 1,351 of its troops in Ukraine, and 3,925 wounded. NATO estimates it to be 7000 to 15000 but as per Ukraine, more than 16,000 Russian soldiers dead and the subsequent Russian military equipment destroyed or damaged as below.

Fighter jets – 115

Helicopters – 125

UAVs – 53

MLRs – 90

Tanks – 561

Artillery – 291

Armored Personal Carriers – 1625

Boats – 5

Army Vehicles – 1089

Fuel Tankers – 72

Anti Aircraft Warfare – 49

Special Equipment – 18

The post 30 Days of Ukraine War, Its Casualty And Destruction appeared first on worldnewsunion.

In the meantime Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky appeared in a video clip and said “I am here. We will not lay down any weapons. We will defend our state, because our weapons are our truth,”

As per the report from Ukrainian news agency Ukinform quoting a social media post of Ukrainian armed forces, Ukrainian serviceman Vitaliy Skakun blew up a bridge in Henichesk in order to stop the advance of a tank column.”Vitaliy got in touch and said that he was blowing up the bridge. An explosion was heard immediately. “Our comrade died. His heroic deed significantly slowed the enemy’s advance, which allowed the unit to redeploy and organize the defense. the statement said.

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A missile has hit an apartment block at 6a Lobanovsky Street, Kyiv city.”A missile hit an apartment block at 6a Lobanovsky Street. Emergency services are going there,” Kyiv Mayor Vitaliy Klitschko posted on Telegram, Ukrinform reports.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba has demanded that the world completely isolate Russia and stop its war criminals after a missile hit an apartment building in Kyiv.

The post Ukrainian Civilians Resort To Guerilla War Tactics Against Russian Troops appeared first on worldnewsunion.

Causalities and Deaths of Russian Invasion to Ukraine

According to the reports from the UK, around 194 Ukrainians including 57 civilians and 450 Russian troops were killed since the start of yesterday’s invasion. Russian defense ministry claimed that they killed 200 Ukrainian special forces during the fighting for Hostomel airfield. Ballistic missiles were fired into Ukraine from Belarus.

Signs of Direct Talks Between Russia & Ukraine

In the meantime, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky called for direct talks with Russian leader Vladimir Putin and Russians response came from Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov saying they are ready for direct talks with Ukraine provided their armed forces surrenders fully!

Humanitarian Crisis Of The War – The Refugees of Ukraine Conflict

As per the UN statement, they are ready to provide humanitarian assistance wherever necessary and possible and announced to allocate $20 million from the Central Emergency Response Fund to meet urgent needs. UN also requested Ukraine’s neighboring countries to keep their borders open for refugees.

EU Neighbors To Help Refugees From Ukraine

Romania said that they are ready with 5,00,000 shelters for the refugees and already 30,000 refugees arrived in Romania and Maldova. Poland set to open 9 refugee reception centers across its bordering areas with Ukraine to provide immediate medical care, meals and resting place. More than 100,000 refugees arrived in Poland as on today.

The post Causalities And Refugees of Ukraine Invasion appeared first on worldnewsunion.

Ukraine President’s Response to Russian Aggression – Declared Martial Law

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky stated in a public address “Today, President Putin announced a special military operation in Donbas. Russia has carried out strikes on our military infrastructure and on our border guards, border detachments. Explosions were heard in many cities of Ukraine. We are imposing martial law on all territories of our state. A minute ago, I had a conversation with President Biden. The United States has already begun to mobilize international support. Today, what is needed from you is calm. Stay at home if possible. We work, the army works, the whole security sector of Ukraine works. I, the National Security and Defense Council and the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine will be in constant contact with you,”.

World Leaders Responds to Russian Invasion on Ukraine

US President Joe Biden said “President Putin has chosen a premeditated war that will bring a catastrophic loss of life and human suffering… I will be meeting with the leaders of the G7, and the United States and our allies and partners will be imposing severe sanctions on Russia”.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson “President Putin has chosen a path of bloodshed and destruction by launching this unprovoked attack on Ukraine… This is a catastrophe for our continent”.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said”Germany condemns in the strongest possible terms this unscrupulous act by President Putin. Our solidarity goes out to Ukraine and its people”.

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said “President Putin, stop your troops from attacking Ukraine, give peace a chance, too many people have already died. What is clear for me is that this war doesn’t make any sense”

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said “These unprovoked actions are a clear further violation of Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, and of Russia’s obligations under international law and the Charter of the UN”

French President Emmanuel Macron said “France firmly condemns Russia’s decision to wage war (and promises support for Ukraine). Russia must end its military operations immediately”.

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said “A major nuclear power has attacked a neighbor country and is threatening reprisals of any other states that may come to the rescue. This is not only the greatest violation of international law, but also a violation of the basic principles of human coexistence. It is costing many lives with unknown consequences ahead of us. The European Union will respond in the strongest possible terms”.

Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid said “Russia’s attack on Ukraine is a grave breach of international order. Israel condemns the attack”

Turkish President Recep Erdogan said both Moscow and Kiev are friends and “feels true regret” over their military conflict. Ankara called on Moscow to seek reconciliation with Kiev based on the 2015 Minsk agreement.

Indian spokesperson in UN said “The situation is in danger of spiraling into a major crisis…. emphasis the vital need for all sides to maintain international peace and security by exercising the utmost restraint”.

Russian Rubile Falling due to War

As a consequence of Putin’s order to invade Ukraine, the Russian currency dropped 6% to 86 Rubles per US dollar early Thursday – the lowest level on record.

The post Putin Orders To Invade Ukraine via ‘Special Operation’ appeared first on worldnewsunion.

US President Donald Trump unveiled his ambitious Middle East Peace Plan in the White House in the presence of ‘smiling’ Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He later lauded the plan as ‘Great for Israel’. But the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas rejected it as a ‘slap of the century’.

In short the below listed main points in the ‘peace plan’ has everything that Israel wanted for a long time and Palastine with restricted ‘State’.

• Establish Jerusalem as Israel’s “undivided” capital, with a potential Palestinian capital to the east and north of the city.
• Recognize the vast majority of Israeli settlements on occupied Palestinian territory as part of the country. A Palestinian state would receive territory, mostly desert, near Gaza to compensate for the loss of about 30% of the West Bank. Gaza and the West Bank would be linked by high-speed rail.
• Recognize the Jordan valley, which makes up about a third of the occupied West Bank, as part of Israel.
• Offer a path to some form of Palestinian statehood but with no army, and overarching Israeli security control in some areas, including over the sea. The plan also sets a series of conditions the Palestinians have to meet before receiving independence including the “complete dismantling of Hamas”, which governs Gaza.
• The possibility of stripping Israeli citizenship from tens of thousands of Arab Israelis who live in 10 border towns, with those towns and their residents being included in any future state of Palestine.
• Recognize sections of the desert bordering Egypt as part of any future Palestinian state.
• Refuse Palestinian refugees the “right of return” to homes lost to Israel in previous conflicts.

The post Trumps Middle East Peace Plan: Palestine Rejects appeared first on worldnewsunion.

The unabated wave of nationwide protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA), the National Register of Citizens (NRC) and, more recently, the National Population Register has proven to be a most interesting turning point in India’s democracy. When the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance government scored a political point by getting the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill passed smoothly, it had not anticipated what would follow. The opposition parties, too, were taken unawares by the deep ferment that had been building up against the legislation.

The protests initially were confined to the north-eastern States when the dubious connection between the CAA and the NRC began to unfold. The BJP tried to play it down as a minor hurdle, assuaging its north-eastern constituents, especially in Assam, that their concerns would be addressed in the legislation. The “minority-majority” binary that the BJP sought to create did not work. The Bill amending the Citizenship Act, 1955, was passed, despite the message that it was a highly socially divisive and sectarian one. But the game plan fell apart as protests spilled over from one State to the other, with widespread participation from all communities, including those that stood to benefit from the sectarian CAA. The CAA provides for the legalisation and naturalisation of citizenship of illegal migrants from Hindu, Christian, Jain, Parsi, Sikh and Buddhist communities who, as religious minorities, had fled persecution from three countries, namely, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh. Apart from being openly sectarian and ultra vires of the Constitution vis-a-vis the core principle of equality of all persons, the Bill conveniently ignored the claims of many other refugees from other neighbouring countries who had made India their home.

In the normal course of things, once passed by Parliament, it was expected (or at least the BJP expected) that things would settle down. No political party was ready to launch a nationwide protest against the CAA. A few of the BJP’s allies had spoken out against the Bill but voted for it in Parliament.

In the fortnight that preceded the passage of the Bill, there were protests in universities across the country. The almost month-long protest against fee hikes in Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), Delhi, brought the students out on to the streets when the Parliament session was on. Students were lathi-charged and detained. Similarly, ad hoc teachers in the University of Delhi had taken to the streets demanding regular permanent appointments. The protest against the government’s higher education policies drew widespread support from across the student community. It grew as the government remained obdurate and indifferent and issued two advisories to news channels within a span of 10 days not to broadcast material that was likely to instigate violence or promote anti-national activities.

Less than a week after the passage of the Bill, students of Jamia Millia Islamia in Delhi took out two peaceful protests, on December 13 and 15. On both occasions they were forced to disperse; the first time, they were lathi-charged by the police. On December 15, a Sunday, there was a larger gathering and the crackdown was violent. The police beat up protesters, including women students, entered the campus, vandalised it and beat up students inside the library, causing grievous injuries (a student lost vision in one eye). The government made it clear that it was not going to tolerate any opposition. The images of the assault in Jamia Millia Islamia and the entry of the police into a university campus sent shock waves across the country. People began to speak up. Actors, some of them alumni of universities in Delhi, took positions openly on what happened in Jamia. This had its repercussions as well. Sushant Singh, a popular Mumbai-based actor, was dropped from a television show after he criticised the police excesses on the students.

But there was more to follow. The Uttar Pradesh Police went on an overdrive, preventing students in Aligarh Muslim University from coming out and protesting on the road. The State government imposed Section 144. In fact, Section 144 was imposed indiscriminately in most BJP-ruled States and in the national capital to prevent people from protesting. The Gujarat government imposed Section 144 throughout the State from December 20 until January 2020.

But there was no stopping the public. Students, including those from elite universities, management schools and the Indian Institutes of Technology, came out in support of the protests and against the CAA. The message was loud and clear: discrimination would not be tolerated and the right to protest peacefully in democratic India was sacrosanct. The attempts by the government to portray the protests as being politically motivated and led by “upadravi” (a term for “nuisance makers” employed by sections of the Hindi television media) elements did not find any takers. The narrative of destruction of public property during the protests on December 15 was countered with images of the police indulging in wanton destruction of university property in Jamia.

Galvanised by the spirit of the youth, the middle and upper-middle classes joined the protests in all the major cities, shouting slogans and holding placards that spoke of communal amity. For many, this was a new experience but an important means to convey their displeasure with the government. Lawyers, teachers, other professionals, students, homemakers, all joined in. In Delhi, people asked each other: “Where is the protest tomorrow?” For almost a fortnight, the protests have continued against the CAA and the NRC and the police excesses. Many students were detained and denied treatment after the police crackdown in Jamia on December 15. On the same night, students from other universities reached the police headquarters in central Delhi and began an all-night sit-in, braving the cold. They were joined by their teachers, members of the public and journalists, who were seen reporting until the early hours of the next morning.

The next round of protests that took place in the capital in the Old Delhi area was peaceful, with slogans of peace and amity being raised all day long and people holding up posters with images of Mahatma Gandhi, B.R. Ambedkar, Bhagat Singh, Ram Prasad Bismil, Ashfaqulla Khan and Chandrashekhar Azad. By late evening, the police resorted to lathi charge and tear-gassing as the protesters moved towards Mandi House. As many as 40 persons, including minors, some of whom had not been part of the protest, were picked up and detained. Support poured in from all quarters for the detained, with lawyers going to the police stations where the detainees were kept. The government’s attempts to caricature the protests as led by unruly elements were exposed when lakhs of people came out on the streets to protest in a non-violent manner in Mumbai, Aurangabad, Bengaluru, Jaipur and Chennai. The bandh called by the Rashtriya Janata Dal in Bihar on December 21 was successful.

Defying Section 144
The attempts by BJP-led governments to foil the protests by imposing Section 144 or by issuing advisories to the media did not work. People defied Section 144 and reached the designated places of protest peacefully. In Delhi, protests were largely held at Jantar Mantar and India Gate. Young students and professionals squatted on the road, singing songs of the revolutionary poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz. Students wrote poetry on the roads with chalk. After the midnight protest at ITO, the words “We were here” were scribbled in chalk in bold letters on the tar road. A placard that was observed in many protests read: “Jab Hindu Muslim raazi, to kya karega Nazi?” (What can the Nazi do when Hindus and Muslims unite?). This was a direct reference to the divisive politics of fascism.

It was not just a Muslim issue any more; all communities and sections were joining in what they felt was a defence of secular India. The word “hum” (us) means Hindu and Mussalman, pointed out a young student. A clutch of apolitical young professionals who were seen joining every protest said that they were there because they were disturbed by what was happening in the country. “Our parents do not like the idea of us being here. But as young girls, we feel that all this has an impact on our lives as citizens. It’s unjust to treat a section of our population like this,” said Shobhna, a young legal counsellor.

Cries of “Hindu, Muslim, Sikh, Isai, aapas mein hai bhai bhai” (“Hindu, Muslim, Sikh, Christian, we are one fraternity”) resonated in the air. This was a long-forgotten slogan, popularised in Hindi cinema for some decades post-Independence. Its resurrection in the present context was significant. The slogan of “Azaadi”, for which false charges of sedition had been slapped on JNU students some years ago, rent the air once again. “Azaadi from Faasiwaad [fascism]”, “Hum kaagaz nahi dikhayenge; hum samvidhan bachayenge” (“We won’t show the papers; we will save the Constitution”) was the slogan in all the protests, both in India and abroad. There were no political party flags at any of the people’s protests. Youngsters rattled off portions from the CAA to the media, quoted from Articles 14, 15 and 21 of the Constitution with aplomb and spoke of how the government was passing divisive Bills while ignoring pressing issues of employment, price rise, and so on. “Political parties are marking their presence in the protests, but it is the youths of this country who are leading the protests and showing the way,” remarked Hannan Mollah, former Lok Sabha member and secretary of the All India Kisan Sabha.

On December 19, celebrated as the martyrdom day of the freedom fighters Ram Prasad Bismil and Ashfaqulla Khan, the Left parties gave a call for a peaceful march from Mandi House to Parliament. The police rounded up the protesters even before the march could begin. They manhandled young men and women and bundled them into buses. Left leaders such as Sitaram Yechury, Brinda Karat, D. Raja, Annie Raja and several others were not allowed to protest and were detained by the police. Section 144 was clamped around Mandi House to ensure the smooth flow of traffic. People walked towards Jantar Mantar in twos and threes (an assembly of four would have invited violation of Section 144), and within hours, hundreds of people had reached the new venue of protest.

Nearly 1,000 academics across the country issued a letter pointing out the infirmities in the CAA. In Kerala, even as the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and the Congress came together to take on the BJP against the CAA, support poured in from the film industry and the spheres of literature and culture. Actors who took a position against the CAA included Mammootty, Parvathy, Prithviraj, Indrajith, Rima Kallingal, Jayasurya, Kunchako Boban, Dulquer Salmaan and Tovino Thomas. Zakariya Mohammed, whose film Sudani from Nigeria won the National Award for the best Malayalam film in 2019, announced that he would boycott the awards function. The actor Rima Kallingal wrote on her Facebook page: “Do not divide a peaceful nation on grounds of religion.”

In Kochi, two long marches were taken out, led by hundreds of cultural and social activists who included popular film stars. “Ottakalla ottakkettu” (not alone but united) was the rallying slogan. The award-winning writers N.S. Madhavan, Anwar Ali, Unni R., S. Hareesh; the cinematographers and directors Venu, Kamal, Rajeev Ravi and Ashiq Abu; the actor-directors Geetu Mohandas and Dileesh Pothan; and the actors Shane Nigam, Manikandan and Nimisha Sajayan also participated. In Mumbai, the directors and popular actors Parineeti Chopra, Anurag Kashyap, Richa Chaddha, Sayani Gupta, Huma Qureshi, Pulkit Samrat, Manoj Bajpai, Swara Bhasker and Zeeshan Ayub were openly critical of the CAA and the police crackdown on students. The actor Sonakshi Sinha posted an image of the Preamble to the Constitution on social media. The actor Alia Bhatt posted, “Learn from the students”, while Dia Mirza wrote: “I stand in solidarity with the students of India.” Varun Dhawan posted an image with the words “Christians, Sikhs, Hindus, Muslims, India”. Other film personalities to voice their support for the protests included Farhan Akhtar, Rahul Dholakia, Alankrita Srivastava, Anubhav Sinha, Danish Aslam, Konkana Sen Sharma, Sandhya Mridul, Mahesh Bhatt, Pooja Bhatt and Soni Razdan. The actor Renuka Shahane tweeted, addressing the Prime Minister: “The real tukde tukde gang is your IT Cell sir… please stop them from spreading hate.” Many wondered, though, why the actor Shah Rukh Khan, an alumni of the Mass Communication Research Centre, Jamia, remained silent.

Protests overseas
Criticism of the CAA poured in from universities overseas, in the cities of London, New York and Berlin, where groups of students and young professionals braved intense cold and rain to speak out against the fissiparous legislation and in defence of the right to protest peacefully.

Leaders of other minority denominations spoke out against the divisive CAA. Prominent among them were the National Council of Churches in India (NCCI) and the Evangelical Fellowship of India (EFI). The NCCI said that the Act polarised communities and contravened the fundamental principles of the Constitution. The EFI expressed concern at the “terrifying impact” of the amendments that threatened to radically change the status of a large number of Indian citizens. In a strongly worded statement, the EFI said: “The breaking of covenants that the Constitution and founding fathers of the nation had made with the people began with Kashmir, took the course of the NRC and the Citizens Amendment Bill (CAB), and now we have the threats to do away with the two seats reserved for Anglo-Indians in Parliament and Legislative Assemblies.” Apart from the Christian minority organisations, the Shiromani Akali Dal, which had supported the Bill in Parliament, had already spoken out against the CAA and the NRC.

The wide public support for the protests against the CAA and the NRC ensured that the issue did not remain one that concerned the minority communities alone. Despite efforts to colour it as a “Muslim” issue, the protests have been anything but that. Pro-CAA gatherings were also held where some openly threatened violence against those who were opposed to it.

The crackdown by the police in the form of arrests, shootings, midnight searches has continued unabated, especially in Uttar Pradesh and in minority-concentrated areas in Delhi. But this time, despite the Internet shutdowns, people have been more vigilant about reporting such excesses. The tyranny of the majority is being questioned.

Source: https://frontline.thehindu.com/cover-story/article30431601.ece

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