In a major development, 154 prominent citizens including former diplomats, justices, bureaucrats and armed forces personnel on Monday (17 February) wrote a letter to the President of India Ram Nath Kovind slamming the "false and motivated" campaign against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), National Population Register (NPR) and National Register of Citizens (NRC), reports The Hindu.

The citizens who had signed the letter included 11 former justices of several High Courts, 24 retired Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officers, 11 former Indian Foreign Service (IFS) officers, 16 retired Indian Police Service (IPS) officers and 18 former Lieutenant-Generals.

In the letter, they have said that in the name of the CAA, NRC and NPR, fear is being spread across the length and breadth of India which appears to be “motivated and with a sinister design” to harm the nation.

The signatories have urged the central government to look into the ongoing protests with all the seriousness and to safeguard the democratic institutions of the country. They citizens have also requested the government to take stern action against people behind the protests.

The citizens asserted in the letter that the campaign against CAA, NPR and NRC was being conducted in a 'coordinated' manner, leading to violent protests resulting in the destruction of public and private property.