India Tomorrow
NEW DELHI, JANUARY 1—Protesters, mostly women, at Shaheen Baug, which has now become a symbol of protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) and the National Register of Citizens (NRC), celebrated the ushering of the New Year by singing the national anthem as the clock struck 12 last night.
Women protesters have been sitting at the Kalindi Kunj-Shaheen Baug road junction for over two weeks despite the chilling cold. Weather department has recorded that this is the coldest December in the last 120 years.
One of the women protesters identifying herself as Nikhat said that they had been sitting on the road under a makeshift tent not for any fun but to protect the Constitutional rights of the people which have been taken away by the existing government at the Centre led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
While Modi and his Home Minister Amit Shah have been given statements to the media that the protesters are being misled by Congress and other opposition groups, Nikhat said that PM and his party leaders are in fact telling a lie. “We are educated, well-informed about what is happening in the country and outside. We cannot be misled by anyone. Moreover, we have so far not allowed any politicians or leaders of any political party to come and address the protesters”, she said.
According to Nikhat, Modi and his BJP are playing a very dangerous game by misinforming the people. Asked why was she against the new citizenship act, she said that she was per se not against CAA that grants citizenship to Hindus, Sikhs, Christians, Jains, Buddhists and Parsis from neighbouring Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh taking shelter into India due to alleged religious persecution. But the fact is that the government plans to carry out an exercise called NRC all over the country in which it wants the people to prove their citizenship by submitting a number of documents. Anybody who fails to pass the NRC exercise, will automatically become non-citizens and a foreigner.
“As CAA provides that non-Muslim migrants from the three neighbouring countries would be entitled for citizenship without any documents, it would help Indian non-Muslims to get citizenship even if they don’t find their names in the NRC list. But Muslim Indians, who failed to find their names in NRC would instantly become stateless as they are not covered under provisions of CAA. They would be declared illegal foreigners. Their properties, houses, shops, business establishments would be confiscated by the government and bank accounts seized and they would be put in detention centres. Mother would be separated from daughter, father would be separated from son, husband would be separated from wife and would be in detention centres till their death”, said Nikhat.
She said that this was the most dangerous conspiracy of the Modi government and that was why the Muslim women, most of them from colleges and universities, have come out of their homes in this biting cold and continuing the protests since the law was passed by two House of Parliament and President of India gave his assent to it.
“It is a question of life and death for us; it is a question of our existence for us”, she said.
She said that women did not want to block the traffic on this road which connected UP with Delhi. “lekin ye hamari majboori hai” (It is our compulsion)”, said the woman.
“We request our Prime Minister to give up NRC, withdraw the amendments in citizenship law and restore the old one that also provided citizenship to people from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh”, she said.
There were many other women, old and young, many with their young children sitting on protest even after midnight. All of them wanted CAA to be withdrawn and proposed NRC to be abandoned completely.
IAS-turned-social activist Harsh Mander and Swaraj India leader Yogendra Yadav were among many social activists who also reached the venue of protest in Shaheen Baug around midnight to express their solidarity with protesting women.
Protests were also organised at 12 in the night at Jamia Millia Islamia, India Gate and several others places in the national Capital to draw attention of the Central government against the obnoxious citizenship law.
