There were huge turnouts at a protest and a satyagraha held against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 in the city on Sunday.
The protest, ‘Plural India, Strong India’, held in front of Town Hall — the site where police and protesters clashed on December 19 — in the evening saw the participation of over 1,500 youngsters, writers and activists.
Activist Harsh Mander, leading the Karwan-e-Mohabbat that has been working with victims of violence like lynchings, told The Hindu, “Something has woken up in the country and many [people] have come out to protest for the first time. It gives us hope. The success of these protests has been that multiple Chief Ministers have now said that they will not implement the National Register of Citizens (NRC).”
“It is a lie that Muslims wont be affected by CAA and NRC. As others will escape, it is only them who will be herded into detention centres. While the rest are Indians by the chance of birth, the Muslims of the country are Indians by choice, as they chose to remain during Partition. No one has the right to question their nationality,” he said.
Several Kannada writers and theatre personalities such as Sahitya Akademi award winners Bolwar Mahammad Kunhi and Vijayamma, K. Maralusiddappa, S.G. Siddaramaiah, and theatre personalities Prasanna and Raghunandana were part of the protest. “The Home Minister himself has said CAA would be followed by NRC. We need to resist this. Fewer people participated in the freedom struggle. So we need not worry about the numbers. The final victory will be ours as India won’t accept such a divisive agenda,” said Mr. Kunhi.
Satyagraha
The day-long satyagraha, with the aim of registering a “cultural resistance against the promulgation of the Act” and spreading awareness about CAA and NRC to create an “informed citizenry and protests”, was organised as ‘Hum Bharat ke Log”. The satyagraha was initially slated to be held at the Quddus Saheb Eidgah near Cantonment Railway Station. However, the police denied protesters permission at the last minute and the venue had to be changed. “Though Quddus Saheb Eidgah is a private property, the police forced us out of there. This is another way of suppressing dissent and suspending our rights,” an organiser said.
At the venue, an ‘ask me anything about CAA and NRC’ stall was set up where researchers and lawyers informed people about CAA-NRC and the need to oppose it. “The stall was helpful in explaining the issue better,” said Syed Pasha, a student who participated in the satyagraha. Both the protest and the satyagraha saw songs and poems sungs in various languages. The protest concluded with a rendition of the national anthem.
