Anti-CAA: After August Kranti, students set for Azad Maidan stir today

A week after thousands of Mumbaiites gathered at August Kranti Maidan in Tardeo to protest against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) and the National Register of Citizens (NRC), students from the city have decided to hold another protest on Friday at 3pm, this time at Azad Maidan.

Apart from the students of Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Indian Institute of Technology-Bombay (IIT-B) and several colleges affiliated to the University of Mumbai (MU), the protest will also witness political parties under the banner Joint Action Committee for Social Justice. Student leaders from Jamia Millia Islamia University and Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) in Delhi and Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) in Uttar Pradesh, as well as political activist Umar Khalid, are also likely to be a part of the protest.

Students said they wish to express solidarity with those protestors who had either lost their lives during the nation-wide agitations or have been arrested by the police.

“Citizens, especially students, have been thrashed, arrested and tortured by the police in many parts of the country because they chose to have a voice. Our fight now is not just against the implementation of CAA, but also against the arm-twisting tactics of the government, to tone down the growing discontent among people,” said a student of IIT-B.

The protestors had earlier planned a march from Byculla zoo to Azad Maidan. However, as they were not granted permission for the march.

Over the past few weeks, student groups across various universities have raised concerns over the manhandling of protestors by the police, as well as the tactics used by the government to dissuade them from protesting.

“While some institutes in Mumbai, either directly or indirectly, told their staff and students to stay away from such protests, law students in Bengaluru and other cities are worried because their institutes are reaching out to parents and threatening them with consequences if their wards are found protesting. But we will not step back now,” said a student from a Bengaluru-based law institute.