Following is a statement by the faculty, researchers and students of the University of Southern Florida, USA, in support of the struggle of students across universities against CAA and NRC.

We, the undersigned, faculty, postdoctoral fellows, students, and alumni of University of South Florida (USF), in strongest possible terms,condemn the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and assault and police crackdown on anti-CAA protests across India. We staged a protest on USF’s Tampa campus on December 19, the day widespread protests were organized across India on this issue. Even though our protest is India-specific, this is about protecting democracy and minority rights.

The Indian government recently passed the CAA, which we believe, allows for the first time in secular India, a citizenship provision based on religion. When combined with National Register of Citizens (NRC), and National Population Register (NPR), the CAA can strip Indian Muslims of their rights and citizenship.The NRC and NPR also threaten transgender communities, dalits, the homeless, indigenous communities, and others who will not be able to provide necessary documents.We believe that the Indian government’s actions are unconstitutional and fundamentally violate the principles of equality and non-discrimination in a democracy.

We denounce the arrest of students, academics, politicians,and activists who were engaging in peaceful protests against this unjust and discriminatory Act. We extend our solidarity and support to the student movements in Indian universities including Jamia Milia Islamia University, Aligarh Muslim University, Madras University, and other civil society movements across the country who are fighting to repeal the CAA. We strongly oppose the CAA, NRC and NPR as they undermine the commitment to equality and secular citizenship enshrined in the Indian constitution.

Dr. Mudasir Ahmad

Kha Alam

Dr. Ambar Basu

Alby Babu

Bisma Balouch

Arindam Biswas

Brianna Cusanno

Omar Chaudhari

Dr. Ryan D’Souza

Dr. Debosruti Dutta

Nikhil Edward

Muhammed Rashad Erukulangara

Md Shahjahan

Rubeha Tahir Ghauri

Umadevi Gopalakrishnan

Bibin Jose

Abhishek K Katticaran

Jagnoor Kaur

Nivethitha Ketheeswaran

Anil Kumar

Dr. Debtanu Maiti

Alen Mathew

Penaz Parveen Sultana Mohammad

Parameswari Mukherjee

Deepak Sukumaran Nair

Mohammed Salman Abdul Nasir

Dhananjay Neelakantan

Pradeep Raj Ooralath

Dr. Mahuya Pal

Jess Sage

Aravind Satheesh

Silpa Satheesh

Moni Sherin

Dr. Faiza Amber Siddiqui

Dr. Lisa Spinazola

Dr. Angshumala Tamang

Shihab Uddin

Dr. Agaz Wani