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50,000 people hit the streets to voice their peaceful protest against CAA, NRC in Pune
Commuters passing through Camp and Pune station area witnessed traffic jam along the area during the protest. Heavy police bandobast was deployed to maintain law and order in the city
At least 50,000 people participated in a protest against the recently passed Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and National Register of Citizens (NRC), on Sunday. A call for protest march was given by the city’s Muslim organisations.
The march, organised by various outfits, included some left outfits and Muslim organisations, under the aegis of CAA and NRC Virodhi Maharally Niyojan Samiti. It began at Golibar Maidan in the city’s Cantonment area and concluded at the divisional commissioner’s office.
The march saw protesters shouting slogans against the new citizenship law and held placards with messages like “We reject Modi Made Holocaust”, “We Reject CAA and NRC”, “Stop dividing India” and “Boycott CAA and NRC”.
Commuters passing through Camp and Pune station area witnessed traffic jam along the area during the protest. Heavy police bandobast was deployed to maintain law and order in the city.
The speakers, including Justice BG Kolse Patil (retd) and JNU students’ leader Omar Khalid, who were present during the march, described implementation of CAA and NRC as the “final assault” and “murder of democracy”.
“The NRC project is aimed at dividing the nation by Modi-Shah duo. Today, we see all the fundamental rights of the citizens being suspended, paving way for dictatorship. It is an attack on the social fabric of the nation,” said justice Patil.
Khalid in his address said, “If you start questioning the system, then you are labelled as an anti-national. A person has been reduced to an identity rather than considering him as a human being. We won’t allow the country to be taken over by the saffron parties. India has rejected the saffronisation of the country and the government will have to withdraw the act as it is against the people in the nation.”
Khalid said that the UP police were attacking the citizens by firing bullets at the peaceful protesters and branding them as instigators.
“Sab ka saath sab ka vikas” is a misnomer and it exists only for industrialists and not for people of the country. People should not be afraid of the government,” he said.
Harsh Mander, former IAS officer, said that silence on CAA is not an option and there is a need to build a mass civil disobedience against the Act. “CAA is the collapse of constitution and establishment of dictatorship where citizen’s rights have been snatched away by the government illegally in violation of the constitution of the country,” he said.
Fahad Ahmed from Tata Institute of Social Sciences said, “It is a democratic fight against fascism and establishment off Hindu Rashtra which is against the spirit of the nation. The ideals of Babasaheb Ambedkar will help the citizens fight the dictatorial regime at the Centre so that democracy can be saved.”
The Citizenship (Amendment) Act seeks to grant citizenship to non-Muslim refugees who came to India before December 31, 2014, to escape religious persecution in Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan.
