Rahul, Priyanka slam CAA, NPR; Congress to hold flag marches

New Delhi: As protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the Nati-onal Register of Citizens (NRC) rage across the country, the Congress has decided to undertake flag marches and programmes to read the Constitution across the country on its Foundation Day on Saturday.

Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi will lead a protest against the CAA in Guwahati, which has been rocked by agitations ever since the bill was passed in Parliament.

“This is a tax on poor people. Just like demonetisation, they will be forced to stand in lines. Poor people are now asking where are the jobs? How will we get employment,” Mr Gandhi said in Chattisgarh on the sidelines of a tribal festival there.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) reacted strongly to Mr Gandhi’s remark that the NPR and the NRC are a tax. Senior BJP leader and Union minister Prakash Javadekar said that they have “embarrassed” the people and his own party.

The NPR does not involve any monetary transaction and its data is used to identify the poor so that government welfare schemes could reach the targeted people, he said.

Congress General Secretary in-charge of Uttar Pradesh, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, who would be in Lucknow for the flag march, also reacted  to the NPR controversy. She took on home minister Amit Shah over his “understand the chronology” remark and said “youngistan will not budge”.

“Understand the chronology... First they will promise you two crore jobs. Then they will form government. Then they will destroy your universities. Then they will destroy the country’s constitution. Then you will protest. Then they will call you a ‘fool’ but youngistan will not budge,” Ms Gandhi Vadra tweeted.

According to a statement by party’s general secretary (organisation) K.C. Venugopal, in addition to the customary flag hoisting in the respective state capitals, the chiefs of Pradesh Congress Committees will undertake flag marches.