Friday, January 24, 2020

REPRESENTATION TO THE PRESIDENT OF INDIA

REPRESENTATION TO THE HONOURABLE PRESIDENT OF INDIA FROM A GROUP OF CONCERNED CITIZENS (CIVIL SERVANTS, ARMED FORCES OFFICERS, JUDGES, DIPLOMATS, INTELLECTUALS) IN RESPECT OF VICIOUS ATMOSPHERE CREATED IN THE COUNTRY WITH REGARD TO CITIZENSHIP AMENDMENT ACT (CAA), NATIONAL POPULATION REGISTER (NPR) AND NATIONAL REGISTER OF CITIZEN (NRC) BY THE VESTED GROUPS

To
The Honourable President of India Rashtrapati Bhavan,
New Delhi


Respected Rashtrapati Ji,

The Indian civilisational construct has historically had a philosophical approach, based on a liberal society, accepting new ideas and in a humanistic spirit, welcoming all who have come to the land. The Indian society has since ancient times, been pluralistic encompassing the adage “Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam” - The World is one Family. Through dialogue and rational dissent, the country has been a flag bearer of harmony and goodwill. Through the centuries, despite the land being ravaged by many invaders, the Indian people have withstood all foreign onslaughts and retained their culture, heritage, literature and traditions. Today, the Indian civilisation is the only one in the world which still derives its strength from these deep ancient roots.
The Government of the day, have in the last six years, done remarkable work in spreading this ancient message of India across the world. This has also given a tremendous sense of pride to all Indians, both in India and those living abroad. Domestically, it has taken certain long pending decisions, with the objective of removing impediments for the fast track growth of the country thereby energising the system and putting the nation on the path to becoming a global power. Prominent amongst them, besides economic reforms and a host of welfare schemes, are the efforts taken to abolish the heinous practice of instant triple talaq, abrogation of the special status for the state of J&K, and in maintaining goodwill in society after the Apex Court’s verdict on Ayodhya.
While taking these important and long pending steps for ensuring the safety, security and growth of the country, the actions of the government seem to have created a sense of unease and insecurity in the minds of some people. These self-serving elements, in conjunction with a section of civil society, have embarked upon a malicious campaign of disinformation to mislead the innocent Indian public, especially the youth and a section of minorities, with a false and nefarious narrative about some recently enacted legislation like
the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the idea of National Population Register (NPR) and National Register of Citizens (NRC) for all Indians. While the CAA has now been enacted, the idea of NPR and NRC, which have been a part of the Indian discourse since independence, remain to be implemented.
Whenever Indian society has faced challenges on its borders and encountered the onslaught of some of the foreign invaders, it was more because of internal chicanery of individuals and small groups of people for their personal agendas and benefits, who have from time to time tried to break the fabric of India’s unity and cohesiveness. We are seeing this phenomenon again. Over the last six years, repeated attacks have been made on Constitutional Institutions like the Election Commission, CAG, Judiciary and on well-established Institutions like CVC and CBI. Having failed to achieve their objective, these groups have now, in a planned and designed manner, started attacking the very essence of Indian democracy, the Indian Parliament.
The Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) has been passed in both houses of Parliament in December 2019 after a detailed discussion. It will be pertinent to mention that this was not done in a hurry, as it was also discussed in the previous Lok Sabha and thereafter sent to a Parliamentary Committee. It may be noted that it was Mahatma Gandhi, who had given an assurance soon after partition to the Hindus and Sikhs who were left in Pakistan, that they would be welcomed in India at any time. A similar assurance was also given by Pandit Nehru. Attempts are now being made to state that the Amendment is not in compliance with the Constitution of India. Here, reference is being made in a malafide manner to Articles 14, 15 and 21 of the Indian Constitution, with a deliberate design to misguide and provoke the masses.
Article 14 is not relevant to the CAA. The said Article states, “The State shall not deny to any person equality before the law or the equal protection of the laws within the territory of India”. Even though protection of Article 14 is available to any “person” and not necessarily a “Citizen”, the question of equality has already been settled by the Supreme Court that equality and equal protection of law is in respect of persons who are equally situated. The CAA does not discriminate amongst persecuted religious minorities from the relevant countries and therefore does not attract any violation of Article 14. With respect to those who are not citizens, Citizenship is not a right which they can claim. Grant of citizenship is a sovereign function, else it would be open to anyone to claim citizenship, which would have very serious consequences for the security and integrity of the country.
Article 15 states: The State shall not discriminate against any citizen on grounds only of religion, race, caste, sex, place of birth or any of them. Here again, as the CAA does not apply to Indian citizens, there is no violation of Article 15. Article 21 states “No person shall be deprived of his life or personal liberty except according to a procedure established by law.” The CAA does not impact on Indian citizens and hence claims that a citizens rights and liberties are being infringed, does not stand scrutiny. In any case, the legality of the CAA, which has been duly passed by both houses of Parliament is now being considered by the Apex Court and therefore, this issue should not be pre-judged.
With respect to the NPR, it is a legal obligation before the conduct of a census which is due in 2021. This has been carried out since independence and therefore, there should be no misgivings on this score. Finally, with respect to the NRC, it is an absolute necessity for a country to maintain such a register for its security, safety and well being. Such registers are being maintained the world over and are also being maintained by both Pakistan and Bangladesh. It is also to be noted that the NRC is religion, caste, creed, colour, language and region neutral. It is applicable to all Indians and therefore, should not be a cause of any anxiety.
The fear mongering which is being spread across the length and breadth of India appears to be motivated and with a sinister design to harm the nation. The coordinated manner in which this campaign is being carried out and the violent nature of protests in which public and private property has been destroyed, has grave security implications and does not bode well for our motherland. These protests, while ostensibly claiming to oppose the policies of the government of India, are in effect designed to destroy the very fabric of this country and harm the nation’s unity and integrity. We strongly feel that there is also an external dimension to the disturbances being created. We therefore request the Government of India to look into this matter with all seriousness and safeguard the democratic Institutions of the country and take stern action against such forces.

With highest regards 
Yours Faithfully


Sr. No.
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Prefix
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Name
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Designation
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1
Justice
Permod Kohli
Former, Chief Justice Sikkim High Court & Chairman, CAT
2
Justice
M.C Garg
Former Judge M.P High Court
3
Justice
S.N. Srivastav
Former Judge Allahabad High Court
4
Justice
S.M. Soni
Former Lokayukta
5
Justice
D.K.Trivedi
Former Judge Bombay and Gujarat High Court
6
Justice
S.N. Dhingra
Former Judge Delhi High Court
7
Justice
M.Ramachandran
Former Judge Kerala High Court
8
Justice
V Chitambaresh
Former Judge, Kerala High Court
9
Justice
H.H. Mehta
Former Judge Gujarat High Court
10
Justice
Ravi R Tripathi
Former Judge Gujarat High Court
11
Justice
H.R. Shelat
Former Judge Gujarat High Court
12
Shri
Yogendra Narain, IAS
Former Defence Secretary & Secretary General Rajya Sabha
13
Shri
Sarvesh Kaushal, IAS
Former Chief Secretary, Punjab
14
Shri
R Ramakrishna, IAS
Former Secretary to GOI.
15
Dr
G. Prasanna Kumar, IAS
Former Additional Chief Secretary, Haryana
16
Shri
Vinay Shankar, IAS
Former Secretary, Inter State Council Secretraiat, GOI
17
Shri
R.D.Kapur, IAS
Secretary, GOI
18
Dr
C.V. Anand Bose, IAS
Former Chief Secretary, Kerala
19
Shri
Shakti Sinha, IAS
Former Secretary, Delhi & Former Director, NMML

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20
Shri
M.C. Gupta, IAS
Former Chief Secretary, Haryana
21
Shri
K.K. Mittal, IAS
Former Additional Chief Secretary, Assam
22
Shri
N.L. Lakhanpal, IAS
Former Secretary, Inter State Council Secretraiat, GOI
23
Shri
Deepak Spolia, IAS
Former Chief Secretary, Delhi
24
Shri
H.C. Mahajan, IAS
Former Additional Chief Secretary, Manipur
25
Shri
Mohinder Kumar, IAS
Former Secretary, Haryana
26
Shri
M.M. Midha, IAS
Former Special Secretary, MHA
27
Shri
Shyam Sundar Prasad, IAS
Former Home Secretary, Haryana
28
Shri
A.P. Sharma, IAS
Former Chief Secretary, Manipur
29
Shri
C.S.Khairwal, IAS
Former Chief Secretary, Pondicherry
30
Shri
Brij Kishore Sharma, IAS
Former Additional Secretary, Ministry of Law
31
Shri
M.L.Meena, IAS
Former Additional Chief Secretary, WB
32
Shri
Narendra Prasad, IAS
Secretary, Delhi
33
Shri
S.P.Marwah, IAS
Secretary, Delhi
34
Shri
P.K. Malhotra, ILS
Former Additional Secretary, Ministry of Law
35
Shri
Surender Ghonkrokta, IAS
Former Member Subordinate Service
36
Shri
G.S. Iyer, IFS
Former Ambassador
37
Shri
Vidya Sagar Verma, IFS
Former Ambassador
38
Shri
Ashok Kumar, IFS
Former Ambassador
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39
Shri
Bhaswati Mukherjee, IFS
Former Ambassador
40
Shri
J.K. Tripathi, IFS
Former Ambassador
41
Shri
Madhava Chandra, IFS
Former Ambassador
42
Shri
S.K. Mathur, IFS
Former Ambassador
43
Shri
M.S. Grover, IFS
Former Ambassador
44
Shri
A.K. Agrawal, IFS
Former Ambassador
45
Mrs
Laxmi Puri, IFS
Former Ambassador
46
Shri
Mohan Kumar, IFS
Former Ambassador
47
Shri
Sanjeev Kumar Tripathi, IPS
Former Chief, R&AW
48
Shri
Mahesh Singla, IPS
Special Secretary, MHA
49
Shri
S.K.Kain, IPS
Former DG, ITBP
50
Shri
Sudhir Chowdhary, IPS
Former DGP, Haryana
51
Shri
R Padmanabhan, IPS
Former DGP, Kerala
52
Shri
M.G.A Ramen, IPS
Former DGP, Kerala
53
Shri
B.L.Vohra, IPS
Former DG, SSB
54
Shri
R.S. Gupta, IPS
Former Commissioner of Police, Delhi
55
Shri
Alok Srivastava, IPS
Former DGP, Hyderabad
56
Shri
Vivek Dubey, IPS
Former ADGP, AP
57
Shri
Ramesh Sinha, IPS
Former DGP, Bihar
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58
Shri
Umesh Kumar, IPS
Former DGP, ACB Telangana
59
Shri
S.K. Jain, IPS
Former Special Commissioner of Police, Delhi
60
Shri
V.Krishna Reddy, IPS
Former DGP, Tripura & NHRC , MHA
61
Shri
Arvind Ranjan, IPS
Former DG, CISF
62
Shri
Deepak Mishra, IPS
Special DGP, Delhi
63
Shri
D.C.Agrawal, IRS
Former Member, ITAT
64
Mrs
Saroj Bala, IRS
Former Member, CBDT
65
Shri
B.K. Gupta, IRS
Former Member, CBEC
66
Shri
Digvijai Kumar, IRS
Former, Income Tax Dept
67
Shri
K.A. Gopinathan, IRS
Former Chief Commissioner Income Tax
68
Shri
A.K. Malhotra, IFS
Former PCCF and HoFF
69
Dr
D.D Sharma, IFS
Former, Chairman, JSPCB
70
Shri
Radha Krishan Goel, IFS
Former Director, Indira Gandhi National Forest Academy
71
Shri
Sita Ram Gupta, IFS
Former Principal Chief Conservator of Forest
72
Shri
Raj Kumar Sood, IFS
Former PCCF (WL)
73
Shri
R.N. Mehrotra, IFS
Former Head of Forest Dept, Rajasthan
74
Dr
Promode Kant, IFS
Former Additional PCCF, TN
75
Shri
RBS Rawat, IFS
Former PCCF & HOFF
76
Shri
James K Joseph, IAAS
Former Accountanta General
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77
Shri
Vijay Kumar Gupta, ITS
Former additional DGFT
78
Shri
Pankaj Jain, IRTS
Former GM, Railway
79
Shri
Prem Pal Sharma, IRTS
Former Joint Secretary
80
Shri
B.B. Goyal, ICAS
Former Chief Advisor, MOF
81
Shri
P.C.Das, ICAS
Former CMD
82
Shri
Davendra Verma, ITS
Former DG, CSO, MOSPI, GOI
83
Shri
Kranti Kumar, ITS
Former Director, BSNL
84
Lt Gen
Nitin Kohli
Former SO-in-C
85
Lt Gen
Rakesh Mittal
Former E-in-C
86
Lt Gen
N.S. Malik
Former Dy Chief of Army Staff
87
Lt Gen
Gurmeet Singh
Former Dy Chief of Army Staff
88
Lt Gen
Arun Sahni
Former GOC-in-C, South Western Command
89
Lt Gen
V.K.Chaturvedi
Former DG
90
Lt Gen
Prakash Suri
Former DG BR
91
Lt Gen
Vishwambhar Singh
Former GOC MG&G Area
92
Lt Gen
SPS Katewa
Former Commandant, ASC Centre & College
93
Lt Gen
Ved Chaturvedi
Former DGMS (Army)
94
Lt Gen
V.M. Patil
Former Chief of Staff, Southern Command
95
Lt Gen
J.P. Nehra
Former Dy Chief of Army Staff
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96
Lt Gen
P.K.Singh
Former GOC-in-C, South Western Command
97
Lt Gen
Vijay Madan
Former GOC 3 Corps
98
Lt Gen
M.Ganguly
Former DGMS (Army)
99
Lt Gen
USP Sinha
Former Commandant, CME
100
Lt Gen
Vinod Chopra
Former Military Secretary to Hon'ble President of India
101
Lt Gen
Mandhata Singh
Former DG, DIA
102
Air Marshal
PK Roy
Former Commander in Chief, Andaman & Nicobar Comd
103
Air Marshal
Sumit Mukerji
Former AOC-in-C Sothern Air Command
104
Air Marshal
Dushyant Singh
Former AOC-in-C Eastern Air Command
105
Air Marshal
R.C. Bajpai
Former AOC-in-C, Maintenance Command
106
Air Marshal
P Madhusoodanan
Former DG Medical Services (Air)
107
Maj Gen
Dr B.R. Jha
Indian Army Veteran
108
Maj Gen
S.P Sinha
Indian Army Veteran
109
Maj Gen
S.S Alahawat
Former DG, TA
110
Maj Gen
RPS Bhadauria
Indian Army Veteran
111
Maj Gen
Rajiv Narayanan
Indian Army Veteran
112
Maj Gen
S.K.Yadav
Former MG, Southern Command
113
Maj Gen
Dhruv Katoch
Former COS, 10 Corps
114
Maj Gen
R.P. Choubey
Indian Army Veteran
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115
Maj Gen
Arun Khanna
Indian Army Veteran
116
Maj Gen
N N Gupta
Indian Army Veteran
117
Maj Gen
Sanjay Soi
Indian Army Veteran
118
Maj Gen
G.D. Bakshi
Former GOC, Romeo Force
119
Maj Gen
P.K. Chakravorty
Former ADG, Artillery
120
Air Vice Marshal
H.P. Singh
IAF Veteran
121
Air Vice Marshal
R.P. Mishra
IAF Veteran
122
Air Vice Marshal
A V Pethia
IAF Veteran
123
Air Vice Marshal
Rajesh Lal
IAF Veteran
124
Air Vice Marshal
CV Subramanian
IAF Veteran
125
Rear Admiral
Om Prakash Singh Rana
Former DG, Naval Armament Inspection
126
Brig
Narender Kumar
Indian Army Veteran
127
Brig
S.K.Sharma
Indian Army Veteran
128
Brig
Raj Bahadur Sharma
Indian Army Veteran
129
Brig
B.Chaudhary
Indian Army Veteran
130
Brig
R.B. Mathur
Indian Army Veteran
131
Brig
V.P. Singh
Indian Army Veteran
132
Brig
K.L. Singh
Indian Army Veteran
133
Brig
Shivendra Bahadur Singh
Indian Army Veteran
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134
Brig
R. Vinayak
Indian Army Veteran
135
Brig
S.C. Sareen
Indian Army Veteran
136
Brig
K.D. Malhotra
Indian Army Veteran
137
Brig
Anil Sharma
Former DDG, DSC, Army HQ
138
Brig
SS Kanbargimath
Indian Army Veteran
139
Air Cmde
B.K. Gandhi
IAF Veteran
140
Prof
K.K. Aggarwal
Former VC, IGNOU and Chairman, NBA
141
Prof
J.L.Gupta
Former VC, GGU, Bilaspur
142
Dr
Gurmeet Singh
Vice Chancellor, Pondicherry University
143
Prof
B.B. Lal
Former DG, ASI (Padam Vibhushan)
144
Shri
BR Mani
Former DG, National Museum
145
Shri
KH Dikshit
Former Joint DG, ASI
146
Smt
Lalitha Kumaramangalam
Former Chairperson, NCW
147
Shri
Chandra Wadhwa
Past President, Institute of Cost Accountants of India
148
Shri
Shantanu Gupte
Author, TEDx Speaker, TV Panelist
149
Mrs
Neera Misra
Chairperson, Trustee, Draupdi Dream Trust
150
Dr (Prof)
N.K. Chaturvedi
MS, Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital, Delhi
151
Prof
Sachin Chaturvedi
DG, Research and Information System (RIS)
152
Dr
Darvesh Gopal
Professor, IGNOU
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153
Prof
Baltej Singh Meena
Professor Punjab University, Patiala
154
Prof
Dilip Kumar Chakravarti
Historian