Thousands turn out to reclaim their India
At Jantar Mantar, students, activists and members of the civil society demand rollback of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act
Thousands of people took to the streets on
Saturday and demonstrated against the recently passed Citizenship (Amendment)
Act.
A protest meet held at Jantar Mantar saw a
massive turnout with students, activists and members of the civil society demanding
the withdrawal of the Act, which mandates protection of nonMuslims who fl_ed to India to escape religious persecution in Pakistan,
Bangladesh and Afghanistan.
Raising questions on the provisions of the Act,
Yasmin Khan, a primary school teacher from Chandni Chowk, said, “India is my
country. I was born here and will hopefully die
here. I will not provide any document to prove my nationality. I am as Indian
as any other citizen of this nation. We should all come forth to resist this as
it is not about a single community but about the nation as a whole.”
For Ishwar Nagar resident Nishat Gupta, who has
had an interfaith marriage, the CAA is a “direct attack on families like hers”.
“As my name suggests, I am a
Muslim married to a Hindu. With this Act getting passed, what am I supposed to
teach my children? Our country believes in humanity and there cannot be any
discrimination based on religion.”
Amidst slogans against the Centre, people were
seen carrying placards like “Kisi ke baap ka Hindustan thodi hain?” (The
country does not belong to one person only) and “We, the people of India, reject
the Communal Arbitrary Betrayal (CAB).”
“Until now we had seen two kinds of critiques,
one from the Northeast and the other the legitimate anxiety of the Muslim
community.
However, today’s protest is a refl_ection of how those who are not directly aff_ected by it have come out in large numbers to raise their
voices. This shows that what the government is doing is not right,” said
Yogendra Yadav, national president of Swaraj India.
For 19yearold Aanchal Goyal, being a part of
the protest was important to uphold constitutional principles. “India is a
secular country and the government is only a representative of the people. How
can they implement something which is against the very same people?” said the
secondyear student of Khalsa College.
Bedashree, who hails from Assam and works in a
publishing house here, said, “People who have been residing in this country for
such a long time do not deserve this. It seems we have completely forgotten
about what human rights are all about in this country.” Speaking at the event,
activist Harsh Mandar said, “The Indian Muslim population here is Indian by choice.
If someone is questioning them, that shows how the government has failed to understand
the core of the country’s soul.”
Social activist Nikhil Dey said the Act is not
just an unjust one but is an assault on the basic structure of the Constitution.
Sadar Bazar resident Sitara summed it up in a
line. “Hindustan hum sabka hain (India includes all of us) and it will remain
so.”
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