City turns up for protest at August Kranti Maidan

The city saw more than 20,000 people gather on Thursday to protest the recently-passed Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) and the proposal to carry out a pan-Indian

The city saw more than 20,000 people gather on Thursday to protest the recently-passed Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) and the proposal to carry out a pan-Indian citizenship survey for the National Register of Citizens (NRC). CAA was notified on December 13.

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Organised by multiple citizen groups and student organisations, the protest was held on Thursday evening, at August Kranti Maidan, in Tardeo, where in 1942, Mahatma Gandhi had delivered his famous ‘Quit India’ speech. Attended by a crowd that ranged from children perched on parents’ shoulders to celebrities, there were impassioned speeches and slogans at the gathering. Some political leaders, like Communist Party of India (Marxist) politburo member Prakash Reddy and Congress’s Milind Deora were also present.

Mumbai Police said approximately 20,000 people gathered at August Kranti Maidan. Organisers claimed close to 2 lakh people attended the protest.

Within 30 minutes of the official starting time of 4pm, the ground was packed and protestors were still pouring in. Slogans like “Inquilab zindabad” and “Awaz do, hum ek hain” rang loud enough to be heard out on the road. When the ground was at capacity, people like journalist P Sainath were spotted perched on the fence bordering August Kranti Maidan. “We’re here because so many others can’t be,” said a young woman carrying a placard that had quotes from the preamble to the Indian Constitution. Earlier in the day, section 144 had been imposed in multiple parts of the country and many who defied the order to gather in protest were detained in cities like Hyderabad, Bengaluru and Delhi.

Actor-director Nandita Das said, “I think the NRC and CAA together is a strike on our constitutional democracy. I request the fence-sitters: If you value your freedom, you must stand up for it.” Among other celebrities in attendance were actor-directors Farhan Akhtar and Konkona Sen Sharma; actors Suhasini Mulay, Jaaved Jaaferi, Huma Qureshi and Swara Bhasker; and singer-composer Ankur Tewari.

During his speech, Reddy described Mumbai as “the city of Manto, this is the city of Kaifi Azmi, this is the city of Sahir Ludhianvi”, and the crowd erupted in loud approval. Cheers also resounded when Jaaferi recited a poem by Rahat Indori. In her speech, activist Teesta Setalvad urged everyone to fight without resorting to violence.

City students showed up in big numbers. More than 500 students from Jai Hind College and HR College, and 300 from St Xavier’s College attended the protest. Mansi Joshi, from HR College, said, “It is a show of strength that people in Mumbai stood up to the [Central] government in such large numbers.” Many students from the North-east (NE) were seen at the protest, with some wearing traditional garments like the Assamese gamosa. “As a person belonging to the NE, we stand to lose our identity and culture of we don’t stand against the implementation of CAA and NRC,” said Michael Kamei, a PhD student at TISS. There was also a contingent from Azim Premji University (APU) in Bengaluru. “Some of our classmates and professors have been detained by the police in Bengaluru and we are here to raise our voice” said an APU student.

Congress’s Milind Deora said, “Any movement that starts from this ground will succeed. There isn’t a bigger nationalist than someone who stands for secularism and the students gathered here today have done just that.”

In addition to sporting slogans that ranged from angry to witty, placards showed images of Dr BR Ambedkar, Gandhi and Bhagat Singh. A large percentage of the protestors were women, with many attending the protest in groups. “All of us live in the same building. We came because this will affect all of us,” said a woman resident of Girgaum who was part of a group of six. Zubeida Khan of Dongri, said, “What the government is doing is discriminatory against Muslims, particularly Muslim women. If we don’t speak up now, future generations will suffer.” Former student of Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Fahad Ahmed said, “This is just the beginning. More protests will be held in the next few days.”