People with Disabilities gather across State to demand inclusion in Article 15 and oppose CAA

The reading and candlelight vigil, held across 23 districts in Tamil Nadu, was organised by several disability rights organisations on Republic Day. “This was to reaffirm our position against the CAA, NRC and NPR. We find the bill to be discriminatory, especially towards people with disability. As stated earlier, we cannot furnish the requisite documentation due to family issues or issues of accessibility around procuring these documents. Thus, we fear what might happen if we are required to provide this proof,” said TNM Deepak, president of the December 3 Movement.

On January 12, the National Platform for the Rights of the Disabled released a statement opposing the CAA, NRC and NPR. Despite 45 signees from disabled activists and organisations from across the country, there was still no response from the Government on clarifying the process for PwD, said Deepak.

In addition to this, the participants called for the inclusion of the word ‘disabled’ into Article 15 of the Constitution of India, which covers social equality and equal access to public spaces.

“Disability is a discriminatory factor, and is a reason for inequality. Accessibility as a whole, even accessibility to disability cards itself, is a big problem in the community. We want the word to be enshrined in the law, and out of that will flow the right kinds of changes that is needed for our community,” said Dr Aishwarya Rao, paediatrician and disability rights activist who was present at the reading in Chennai.

Members of CITU on Sunday took a pledge reading out the Preamble of the Constitution on the occasion of the 71st Republic Day celebration as part of their protest against Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), National Register of Citizens (NRC) and National Population Register (NPR).

At its 16th all India conference held here, the CITU president Dr K Premalatha hoisted the national flag at the conference venue and read the Preamble of the Constitution.

Later, the participants of theconference who has come from all over the country formed a human chain in protest against the Centre’s move to differentiate the people on religious basis and to highlight the unity of the nation.

At the conference, the CITU adopted a resolution condemning the Narendra Modi government for inviting Brazil President Jair Bolsonaro as chief guest for the Republic Day celebration. “It is a matter of shame for our Republic which has the rich legacy of anti imperialist struggles to have a known agent of imperialism and a notorious racist to be the chief guest of the Republic Day. His ideology and politics are the same as that of the RSS-BJP combine,” the resolution said.

It also reaffirmed its resolve to uphold the anti-imperialist traditions and intensify the struggles against the efforts of Modi government to make the country the subordinate ally of US imperialism facilitating all its collaborators. It expressed solidarity to the protest actions being held throughout the country in which CITU is also actively participating against his arrival, including the protest demonstration being held in Delhi.