On the ongoing protests against the Citizenship (Amendment)Act 2019 across the country and with incidences of clashes between protestersand police in Delhi last night, Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad said that"real culprit" is central government that passed the 'unpopular' Billin Parliament without thinking about its consequences. "The real culpritis the government. It passed the unpopular Bill in Parliament on the basis oftheir numbers without thinking about its consequences," said Azad."The people are against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act.

 There are protestseverywhere be it West Bengal, Maharashtra, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh. The people arenot ready to accept this," he added. Yesterday, at least 26 students andsix cops sustained injuries in a protest against the citizenship law outsideJamia Millia Islamia University. The protesters had set DTC buses on fire nearBharat Nagar area after demonstrations turned violent. Protestors alsovandalized a fire tender that was sent to douse the fire and injured twofiremen inside the vehicle. Delhi Police PRO MS Randhawa had said that asection of the mob had turned violent and started pelting stones on the policeand at houses due to which police was forced to resort to baton charge andfiring tear gas shells The Act seeks to grant Indian citizenship to refugeesfrom Hindu, Christian, Sikh, Buddhist and Parsi communities fleeing religiouspersecution from Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh and who entered India onor before December 31, 2014. The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill was passed fromParliament earlier this week and became an Act with President Ram Nath Kovindgiving his assent on November 12.

Meanwhile, In the first reaction from a senior unionminister on the police action against students of Delhi’s Jamia Millia Islamiaand the Aligarh Muslim University that left at least 300 injured, financeminister Nirmala Sitharaman has said citizens should be wary of “jihadists,Maoists and separatists” getting into student activism.

Herself a student activist, Sitharaman made this assertionon the allegiance of Jamia students despite later adding that she was “notaware” of the events that transpired at the university over the weekend.

Earlier in the day, minister of state for home affairs, GKishan Reddy, also sought to blame foreign forces for the protests atuniversity campuses across India, but did not elaborate when he was asked toclarify.

“I have not seen the videos of police atrocities againststudents. But I want to tell the students and people of the particular religionwho are protesting there is no need to protest against CAA,” he said.

On Sunday afternoon, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had alsoaccused the Congress and its allies of fuelling violence over the amendedCitizenship Act, and remarked that those indulging in arson "can beidentified by their clothes".