Bengaluru: Javed Akhtar is a celebrity. He is known for writing good lyrics. 

However, when it comes to facts and figures, he is found wanting. 

Take for example one of his tweets. While there are protests taking place everywhere over the Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB) which is now a law, he put out a tweet saying “as per law of the land under any circumstances police cannot enter university campuses without the permission of any university authorities.” 

With his tweet, he may have thought that he may earn many plaudits, but he was taken on by an IPS officer Sandeep Mittal who asked him to elaborate on the relevant section so that they too could be educated. 

 

Others too on twitter hailed this response and went on to add that students could not resort to violence. 

The CAB was passed in both houses of the Indian Parliament last week. This law intends to protect minorities from the countries of Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh, excluding Muslims which the Indian government says can’t be persecuted in their own countries which profess Islam to be the state religion. 

But irrespective of the explanations given by the Modi government, there are massive protests being held everywhere in India. 

Though criticisms still rage, the BJP has always maintained that in its manifesto, it had made it clear that it would bring in not just CAB and NRC, but also abrogation of articles 370 and 35A and even the Uniform Civil Code. 

Ironically, some protesters who can be seen shouting their lungs out do not even know the reasons for their protests. 

If that is about protesters, the Congress party, which says secularism is under threat, itself was caught unawares as its PM Manmohan Singh, as the leader of Rajya Sabha in 2003, had sought citizenship for the persecuted minorities from Bangladesh.