Hundreds of protesters gathered at Jantar Mantar under the banner of “Alliance against CAA-NRC-NPR” on Wednesday. Holding the Tricolour, protesters, including those who have been on an indefinite stir at Shaheen Bagh, held posters of the Preamble of the Constitution.
MP Manoj Jha, activist Tapan Bose, Ravi Nair, Supreme Court lawyers, student activists from Jamia Millia Islamia, Jawaharlal Nehru University and others addressed the gathering.
Attacking the government and speaking about the protests, student activist Afreen Fatima said: “I am here for the idea of a nation which accepts me as someone asserting my Muslim identity.” She went on to say that there is a “media trial” that has been taking place to portray people from a particular community as anti-national and seditious. “To them, I want to say, being Muslim is no crime,” said Afreen.
Social activist Ravi Nair argued that the current move by the government would harm Hindus as well. “Look at what happened in Assam where lakhs of Hindus were kept out of the NRC,” he said.
Apart from speakers, those gathered there sang revolutionary songs and recited poems in support of the protest. JMI student Amit Aziz recited a poem chronicling the police crackdown at the university, the attack on JNU and other instances of violence against anti-CAA protesters, with the chorus “ hamme sab yaad he” [we remember everything].
Published - January 30, 2020 01:37 am IST
