From ‘we want Lalu out of jail’ to ‘CAA is a machine that produces Indian citizens’: Read bizarre reasons why RJD supporters are protesting

The opposition party in Bihar, RJD, today called out a state-wide bandh and protest against the enactment of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). A raft of RJD supporters obeyed the party call and hit the streets, feverishly protesting against the Bill, except for they did not know the exact cause for their protest.

The questions regarding the purpose of their protest elicited a wide array of profoundly ludicrous answers from the RJD supporters. From the explanations ranging from “the protest was against the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi” to “CAA is a machine that produces Indian citizens”, RJD supporters proffered hilariously inconceivable reasons to defend their participation in the demonstrations against the Citizenship Bill. Evidently, most of them were not even aware of the constitutional argots- the Citizenship Amendment Act and the National Register for Citizens.

Read: Watch: While assuring a journalist that their anti-CAA protests are ‘peaceful’, RJD leader spots an autorickshaw and vandalises it

“We are protesting because Mahatma Gandhi was murdered. Nathuram Godse murdered him. This government supports those who murdered Gandhi,” one of the protesters exclaimed. Perhaps, when you run out of logical reasons, the safest hedge is to invoke Mahatma Gandhi.

Another protester, having no good reason to offer, claimed that he participated in the protest to demand the release of their leader Lalu Prasad Yadav, notwithstanding the court order which sentenced him for 27 years for his involvement in the fodder scam.

Read: Anti-CAA riots: RJD workers, armed with sticks and flags with Lalu’s face, vandalise autorickshaws during ‘bandh’ called in Bihar

One protestor, who identified himself as a local RJD leader, Nandkishore Mandal provided an absurd reason claiming he is protesting because people garlanded him with a ‘Mala’. “I am protesting because people have garlanded me with a ‘Mala’. I am protesting because girls and women are being raped and set ablaze in Bihar.”

However, one of the most outlandish explanation came from a protestor who said CAA is a machine that provides Indian citizenship. “CAA/NRC is a machine. These machines produce Indian citizens. They grant citizenship,” he said.

The Citizenship Amendment Act passed by the central government aims to grant citizenship to the persecuted minorities-Hindus, Jains, Sikhs, Parsis, Christians, and Buddhists from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh who came to India on or before December 31, 2014.