Samajwadi Party members led by Akhilesh Yadav and including MLAs and MLCs on Tuesday took out a cycle rally to the Assembly to protest against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act and the National Register of Citizens.

Carrying placards bearing anti-CAA and anti-NRC slogans, the Samajwadi leaders said the rally had been organised to boost the morale of the people who are being harassed by the Yogi Adityanath government for taking part in protests in Uttar Pradesh. The cycle is the electoral symbol of the Samajwadis.

Akhilesh, a former chief minister, told reporters after the 2km rally from the party office in Lucknow to Vidhan Sabha: “The CAA is against the Constitution and we will not allow it to be enforced in Uttar Pradesh. There cannot be an act on the basis of religion. No government in India can give citizenship to someone on the basis of religion.”

“You (the Narendra Modi government) don’t want to give citizenship rights to the Muslims,” the Samajwadi chief alleged.

Akhilesh said the people of the Northeast, and Assam in particular, had rejected the NRC.

“The people of Assam and (other parts of) the Northeast don’t want the NRC. They have made it clear to the government. But the government is ignoring their opinion. By declaring that it would be implemented across the country, the BJP government is terrorising the people,” he said.

Akhilesh saw a “trick” in BJP leaders, including Modi and Union home minister Amit Shah, speaking in different voices on the CAA-NRC.

“The BJP government will be remembered for destroying the economy of the country and rendering defunct the banking sector. Banking in India is not in the ICU, it is in the ICCU (intensive coronary care unit),” the Samajwadi leader said.