A file photo of Amartya Sen
Nobel laureate Amartya Sen said on Monday that opposition unity was important for a protest to be successful, in an apparent reference to the ongoing demonstrations against the Citizenship Amendment Act. “For a protest, opposition unity is important as protest becomes easier,” the Nobel laureate said on Monday, as reported by news agency Asian News International.
He, however, added that not having any unity didn’t mean that one should stop protesting, given that one was protesting for the right cause.
“If there's no unity, we still have to move on. Whatever is necessary must be done,” added Sen, who earlier this week demanded the scrapping of the new citizenship law.
"Under this Act, whether citizenship will be given or not will be decided after ascertaining the religion of a person. This definitely is not in tune with the Constitution," Sen was quoted as saying by news agency IANS.
"I feel the law should be scrapped because such an Act should not have been passed in the first place," he had said.
Sen reportedly said even he did not have a birth certificate.
"I also don't have a birth certificate. I was born in Santiniketan (in Bolpur of Birbhum district)," he said.
The Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) seeks to provide Indian nationality to Hindus, Christians, Sikhs, Parsis, Jains and Buddhists fleeing to India from persecution in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh before December 31, 2014.
As per the Act, such communities will not be treated as illegal immigrants now and will be given Indian citizenship.
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