Violent protests on Citizenship Amendment Act are unfortunate : PM Narendra Modi

He said damage to public property and disturbance of normal life has never been a part of India's ethos.

"The need of the hour is for all of us to work together for the development of India and the empowerment of every Indian, especially the poor, downtrodden and marginalised. We cannot allow vested interest groups to divide us and create disturbance," PM tweeted.

"Violent protests on the Citizenship Amendment Act are unfortunate and deeply distressing. Debate, discussion and dissent are essential parts of democracy but, never has damage to public property and disturbance of normal life been a part of our ethos," he said.

Modi urged people to maintain peace and brotherhood.

The PM said: "This is the time to maintain peace, unity and brotherhood. It is my appeal to everyone to stay away from any sort of rumour mongering and falsehoods."

Protests over the Act have been taking place in different corners of the country for the past several weeks.

The protest against the controversial Citizenship (Amendment) Act reached Lucknow on Monday with students of Nadwa college getting engaged in a face-off with police.

The protesting students had also raised slogans in support of Delhi's Jamia Milia University students who were assaulted by Delhi police on Sunday evening.

The protest by the Jamia students against the new citizenship law in the national capital on Sunday took an ugly turn when demonstrators attempted to march towards arterial south Delhi roads and were stopped by the police.

The police reportedly resorted to lathi-charge and fired tear gas shells as protesters allegedly started to pelt stones and smash vehicles in the area.

Police said at least four DTC buses were set on fire by the agitators.

Following the clashes, the police entered the Jamia Milia University campus and detained several students. While 35 were detained at Kalkaji police station, 16 were detained at the New Friends Colony (NFC) police station near the varsity. The students were later released.

Students from various institutions- Jawaharlal Nehru University, Aligarh Muslim University, Benaras Hindu University, Jadavpur University held protests against the assault on the Jamia agitators.