Pune presents both sides of the coin with protests, against and in support of CAA, swarming city streets

A mashal march or torch procession was organised on Thursday by the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) students inside the Savitribai Phule Pune University

A mashal march or torch procession was organised on Thursday by the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) students inside the Savitribai Phule Pune University (SPPU) campus in support of the the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and National Register of Citizens (NRC) introduced by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government.

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At least 500 students from SPPU and other city colleges gathered near the Aniket canteen inside the campus at 5pm. From there, the protesting students started the march towards Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj statue and then culminated it at Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar statue.

Dayanand Shinde, ABVP president at Savitribai Phule Pune University, said, “Our march was to support the CAA and NRC which has been introduced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government. It is necessary and beneficial for our country and some people are unnecessarily spreading wrong information about these Acts. So through this march, we want to convey our support to the BJP government and will continue to support it through all the ABVP units in various college campuses.”

Meanwhile, two other protests against CAA were held in the city. One was organised by Pune city district Congress committee to condemn the BJP government and the police crackdown on Jamia Millia Islamia University students, CAA and NRC at Goodluck chowk at 10am. Hundreds of Congress party volunteers participated in this protest.

Pune city president of Congress party Ramesh Bagwe, said, “The Modi government is trying to create a divide amongst Indians on the basis of religion and caste, they are disrespecting the Constitution of India formulated by Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar. The innocent students of Jamia and other universities have been targeted and brutally beaten up by the police. All these things are not acceptable and hence, we are protesting against the BJP government.”

Similarly, a mashal march or torch procession was organised by various organisations protesting against the CAA and NRC in the evening. The march started at 6pm from the Mahatma Phule wada, Ganj peth and culminated at Lokmanya Tilak statue in Mandai market area. At least 200 people participated in the march with senior activist Baba Adhav leading the march.